V2 Voltan and the Cardinal Sin
by slytherinsal
Summary: Juggling the task of finding which of two cardinals is the genuine one, protecting a king's son and dealing with both northern barbarians and brigands is a taxing business even for Voltan and his brother Hawk together- sequel to Voltan & the Healer
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The Abbey of the crag was the chosen abode, when he could escape the city, of the Archbishop, who had been abbot there before being called to higher service. It was also a good place for quiet, uninterrupted meetings. The monks were loyal to the man who had once been their abbot first and foremost; and the new abbot was included in that. And any who were so foolish as to try to extract information from any of the monks about what might have been said or done, or even who had been present to speak to the Archbishop, were met with carefully studied stupidity and indifference.

Such a meeting on a wild and windy January night took place between the Archbishop and four guests; Hawk the Slayer and his brother, Voltan the Warlord being the principle invited guests. The archbishop had too perforce, since they would not be left out, Annis, Voltan's tiny pale lady; and Jehanne, half sister to Annis' half sister and accounted step sister by that strong minded young lady. Jehanne acted as Hawk's page while she learned enough to be called his squire. She had cut her hair short to pretend to be a boy to better protect her sister Sylvia ere Voltan had taken them into his care; and kept for the nonce her dark golden curls short and still, for reason of her slender build, passed as a boy.

Voltan scowled at the Archbishop as Hawk introduced them; their reconciliation was still of recent date and the warlord was edgy around those who had recently been his enemies.

"I'm not over fond of churchmen" he said.

"I should say rather, my son, that you're not fond of the dishonest kind of churchmen that one so often meets – especially amongst the upper echelons of the ecclesiasty" said the archbishop gently.

Voltan shrugged.

"Nine times out of ten it comes to the same thing."

"Alas; you are quite possibly right" sighed the archbishop. "And such is our great shame. But you are in an unique position to help clean out some of the corruption."

"What, with fire and the sword, or just by hanging all the cardinals?" suggested Voltan with black humour.

"Not quite…..but to root out the corruption of one cardinal – or seeming cardinal."

"Don't you have enough real ones without impostors as well?" asked Voltan, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, it is a moot point" said the archbishop "This one may have been ordained by one of the more spurious popes; or he may be an impostor through and through that use the respect given to the church to get all he wants. And he travels with a genuine cardinal whose existence I know of, but not his name; that travels at the blessing of the pope I acknowledge to be chancellor to the king; and who the pope writes is a good and holy man. Unfortunately the journey to the pope's court is fraught with much danger at this time of year that make sending for a confirmation a little difficult, not to say close on impossible."

"You want us to cross the high Alps and travel to see him, Father Archbishop?" asked Hawk.

"No! That were a foolish waste of your skills; and were like to take longer than it take that they reach the King's court anyway. The messenger reached me with the pope's letter shortly before one of mine own spies told me that there were two cardinals travelling; and that as they seemed to think that each is but a candidate for the chancellorship that one have convinced the honest man of the same. Other messages I have received convince me that the bogus cardinal has intent to seem a better candidate to the king and supplant the genuine one; or possibly – even worse – to cause him some accident on the road that only one reach the king. Which whence cometh my suggestion to find out which is which" he smiled at Voltan. "It is not generally known, my son, that you have turned aside from the destructive path you were pursuing; so I ask you to do as 'The Dark One' as you were known would have perchance done. For an you kidnap both, ostensibly for ransom, you will between you, I feel sure, soon find out which is the fraud."

Voltan laughed his harsh laugh.

"An interesting challenge, My Lord Archbishop. Aye, that I can do, methinks; art up for the game, my dear?" he asked Annis.

"Oh yes" said Annis "We will play word games and set traps and tests until one betrays himself. It should be quite fun."

"Though probably NOT for the cardinals" said Hawk.

Annis grinned.

"The honest one may look upon it as a test of his faith and so a trial that is meritorious; and the dishonest one should be made miserable on general principles" she said sunnily.

"Ah well, back to my distinctive helmet I suppose" said Voltan. "A little discomfort on behalf of God should not be irksome; He have gone out of his way to have me back so it be only fair. How about you, Hawk? Will you grow stubble and try to look villainous enough to be some captain of The Dark One?"

"Some idiot will call him Hawk; it is inevitable" said Annis "And most people, an you ask me, would think it more likely, of the two brothers, that Hawk should renounce virtue and throw in his lot with his brother, wicked Voltan making of him a sinner, rather than that Voltan should…."

"Careful how you phrase that" said Voltan.

She beamed at him.

"Than that Voltan should be merely an ordinary sinner rather than a blackly wicked one" she said innocently "That do you, my lord?"

He laughed.

"Aye, that will do me, my vixen."

"Excuse me, why is it likely that I should turn to any kind of wickedness?" asked Hawk "Just so I know what has wrought this."

"Because, brother" said Annis "You have seen corruption eat at the heart of the church you have always loved and it has sickened you to the extent that it be impossible to militate against the depth of such depravity; that you despaired and listened to the temptations of the spawn of the devil that your brother has been called and decided that as all men were villains you had rather be a villain alongside the brother that is at least an honest villain and tied to you by blood."

"I almost followed that" grinned Hawk.

"I'd say it have the ring of possibility" ventured Jehanne "That a man in despair cares not what he does."

"Aye, I suppose so" said Hawk "And I AM sickened by the gross venality of much of the church. But that spurs me on to fight it harder; not to quit."

"Yes; but then not everyone know how pigheadedly stubborn both you brothers be" said Annis.

Voltan gave a sardonic chuckle.

"My wife the tactful" he said "What then, virago, be we Falconsburg boys more alike than we know?"

"Indeed" said Annis "Oft times you could almost be speaking one for the other. Is that then our family name?"

"For what it's worth" said Voltan sourly "Our borders were menaced by barbarians anyway before we started our feud; and when I withdrew the troops in my fury, they overran the place. The common soldiery would not, for the most part, choose one brother or the other, preferring to take their families and fleeing. Foregrim is my closest man because he was my father's man first; and taught me much."

"Ah; I thought he got away with much" said Annis "In the days when your temper was a little uncertain."

"She means my temper was filthy" said Voltan.

"One day, Voltan, we'll take our lands back – together" said Hawk quietly.

"Aye brother; we will" agreed Voltan. "You and I will start to attract worthy warriors to our joint banner; let us unfurl the Falconsburg banner again and drive back the barbarians once and for all. When we've finished playing with the archbishop's cardinals. Annis, do you play sweet meekness at them? A treaty bride? And see then what each recommends at me treating you roughly?"

Annis grinned.

"That sounds amusing. It made Hawk froth with fervent indignation when we played that game before" she said.

Hawk flushed.

"I was fixated on the idea that Voltan could not be douce with anyone" he said "He was right; you're not in the least like Eliane. Such would have terrified her."

"Why then, Lord Hawk" said Jehanne "You may be glad that she is in Heaven and not sobbing out her life in a nunnery whence she have retired, puzzled over why she be abandoned by you; as so tedious a female must have driven you to such distraction that an you had not left her you would fear that you would strike her."

"Art a pert creature to speak of one you know not" said Hawk with an edge to his voice.

Jehanne shrugged.

"I know that Foregrim warned Lord Voltan not to heed the betrothal his father and yours made for him and Eliane" she said "Foregrim says that Lady Annis makes his master a far better wife than the retarded butterfly."

Voltan gave a brief bark of laughter.

"Foregrim do not mince words!" he said.

Hawk flushed in displeasure.

He was guiltily aware that Jehanne had a point; now he had seen the true partnership Voltan and Annis shared, and realising that he would never have had such a relationship with Eliane; for it would never have occurred to him to even ask her to share the hardships of campaign as Annis expected as a matter of course.

"Tell us more of these cardinals, Father Archbishop" he said hastily.

"I know little but the names reported to me that they were using" said the archbishop "And that they have excellent credentials that my spy said had to be either genuine or forged by an excellent forger. One is called Rollo de Clairvallet; the other is Alessandro Cordo."

"What an the false cardinal turns out to be the better man withal?" asked Annis "That he seek power as a means to an end – peace and prosperity in the land that he cannot get by other means, being too honest to become a genuine cardinal?"

The archbishop shrugged and spread his hands.

"Passing over your cynicism about all cardinals – which is not wholly true – then I suggest only that you find for the king a strong chancellor who will do well by the people" he said "For I take your point, daughter. The genuine one may be a good and holy man and still be an utter fool. I am sure that you will, between you, make a good decision and choose wisely for the right reasons."

"What should we do with the false one?" asked Hawk.

Voltan grinned.

"An he be a truly venal villain, we might let him off with crucifixion" he said. "Oh Hawk, your FACE! Wouldst truly object for some cruel and nasty piece of work that use the church purely to get his own way – and, say, some perverse vice?"

"I – well, maybe not" said Hawk.

"Well, I should think much will depend what he be like" said Annis. "An he be not too bad we might just send him home; or we might make him a bonded serf; or we might execute him. But until we know the extent of his perfidy we may not make such decision."

A lone man awaited in an antechamber as they left the archbishop; but he was large enough for several.

"Gort!" Hawk greeted the giant cheerfully.

"Hawk! I hear rumours that you have joined forces with Voltan – and come to see what witchcraft he have used to deceive you; and to strike his wicked head from his shoulders to free you from it!"

"Oh no you will NOT!" Gort found himself facing a furious girl like a pale flame whose eyes flashed blue fire. She came no higher than his waist. "So, you have made up your mind without finding out the true facts I see – and proving the old adage that the bigger they come, the stupider they be! Though, Hawk if DO prove my point" Annis added as an aside before resuming her tirade to Gort. "An you wish to attack mine husband, Voltan, you pugnacious fellow, shalt have to come through me!"

Gort stared, helpless.

"Little lady, stand aside from such a stance, I beg you!" he said "I could not hurt you!"

"Maybe not; but I've no compunction about hurting YOU an you attack my Voltan out of hand!" said Annis.

"She would too" said Voltan, a laugh in his voice "A veritable virago, my wife, I assure you! I have killed friends of yours Gort; we were at war. An you will not accept the new peace between Hawk and myself and will not hold neutral then an you insist I will fight you; as I had rather not do that it will hurt my brother. For you would die."

Gort was staring at Voltan's unmasked face. With the healing of the scar he troubled not with the concealing helm and but wore an ordinary helmet with a nasal to fight.

"That cannot be Voltan!" he exclaimed "Where is the scar?"

"Gort, can you listen to the tale ere you lose your temper?" begged Hawk "For the sake of the friendship that lies between us?"

"I want to know what has happened to his face!" said Gort "And what new witchcraft is this!"

Voltan smiled grimly.

"Such is all a part of the tale" he said. "Hawk; tell your friend all that hath occurred. I will await his pleasure one way or another without. I have a kidnapping to plan."

"You see?" said Gort to Hawk.

Hawk sighed.

"Voltan, you don't make it easy" he said. Voltan gave a sardonic grin.

"What, was I supposed to?" he said "I'm the wicked war lord and you, by the account of your friend, the weak-kneed lily-livered fool to be fooled by me that you complained within that seemed unrealistic. The only thing I like about your loud mouthed friend is his neat way with slavers. That I like a great deal" and he strode out with Annis in his wake. Jehanne hesitated and stayed with Hawk.

Hawk told the story of how Annis had come to Voltan as hostage and stayed as his bride, love for her reaching through his shell of self loathing and hatred of all the world. And how her healing – and her love – had cured utterly the cursed wound.

"Have you ever had a painful burn, Master Gort?" asked Jehanne.

"Aye, little one; I have" said Gort.

"Then think on this from point of view of my sister's husband; and imagine it being open and unhealed for ten years; and think how kindly you would feel" said Jehanne.

Gort looked thoughtful.

"It were not a thing to make a man well tempered" he admitted "But this talk of kidnapping?"

Hawk rolled his eyes.

"My brother must ever play for effect" he said "It is a task laid on both of us by the archbishop that you knew as the abbot; to determine which of two cardinals be real and which counterfeit. And you must surely see, Gort, that had my brother not changed he would not be here in the Abbey at all – and taking a task from the archbishop."

Gort grunted.

"That, I grant you" he said cautiously "What says Ranulf?"

"Ranulf is here, below; ask him yourself" said Hawk "An you might prize him from his courtship of the Lady Annis' bodyguard, who is one of Voltan's captains."

"This Lady Annis be tiny and exquisite!" said Gort "What did she see in one like Voltan?"

Hawk shrugged.

"More than I was capable of seeing, obviously. Her father is a cruel swine who would have wed her to one whose sexual tastes ran to children as felt her to be small enough that he get a son without being put off by a full grown woman as he thought. I had him hanged" added Hawk meditatively "The church knights I sent set the local reeve to do it. The man's peasants kept reviving him to see an he be dead yet; I gather it took about four hours for him to die. Which tells you how much he was hated. As to Annis' father, the girl saw him murder her mother. Voltan's care for the safety of a hostage was as kindness by comparison to such treatment; and became kindness in sooth as his face healed from her ministrations."

"And when he met and rescued my little sister and me he was nothing but kindness to us" put in Jehanne "My brother Voltan is a good man and I will fight you too an you want to hurt him!"

Gort blinked.

"The boy is partisan!" he said.

"Girl" said Hawk "She is my page; I train her. Voltan knows he have limitations with patience and he already have one page that he felt Jehanne and I would work well together. I'm still getting used to the idea of having a page" he added dryly.

"But I do so make myself useful to you, my lord" said Jehanne "And you have said so!"

"Aye, that you do" agreed Hawk "Come, Gort – will you not join us and make up you own mind?"

Gort pondered; then nodded.

"An Voltan have a babe in arms like your little page call him good that be enough for me" he said, blissfully unaware that Jehanne made horrible faces at him for so calling her "For I cannot think he would trouble to bewitch a child. And children be shrewd creatures not easily fooled."

Hawk heaved a sigh of relief.

He did not want to lose Gort's friendship.

Nor did he want to lose the friendship of his brother now they had reaffirmed it; and it was still a tenuous thing with brittle moments.

"Gort is joining us" said Hawk as he led the big man down to the stables.

"There goes my food store then" said Voltan with a wolfish grin.

"An his appetite become a risk to our peasants we shall have to eat him instead" said Annis.

"She's joking" said Hawk hastily, hoping she was.

"Probably" added Voltan.

Gort could not take his eyes off Annis; she was so tiny and exquisite and fragile looking; and yet so strong willed! And another so partisan to Voltan; it were hard to take in for the big man!

The weather had improved somewhat as they rode out; for the wind at least had abated and the rain, that had been at least sleet mixed with hail, was but light. After a mild start the winter had been cold but substantially dry, being in many cases too cold to snow as much as sometimes in those parts, though the peasants grumbled for that. Snow brought down dust with it that was as good as extra manure to plough in and cold did no man good. They gave thanks, however, that they resided still within the castle, the village not yet having been rebuilt after the siege; and Voltan glanced at the sky as the rode.

"Hawk, think you this is a break to the weather? That we shall have wet snow and then the spring?"

Hawk shrugged.

"I have but little weather lore, brother. We have lost no man to the cold yet though; and an it stay cold and clear in the main it were like to make this task on us easier."

Voltan nodded; muddy roads were almost impassable.

"My peasants grumble" he said "They find the ground hard to harrow. Please God we have it dry to take these wretched cardinals then a nice bout of snow to bring the cold down out of the sky."

They returned to the castle to collect a body of men for the mission; and too to make detailed plans. Gort stared yet more as Voltan was greeted by a small boy and a miniature edition of Annis, clamouring to relieve him of his armour and sword and cloak.

Voltan laughed and called them brats; and sent them off staggering under the weight of his equipment; but Lukat would cede his lord's sword to no man however awkward he may look struggling with it. As Gort found when he lifted it easily and Lukat clamoured in distress and ran against Gort hammering him with his small fists.

"Gort, the boy takes my sword; give it to him" said Voltan "It is his honour that he claim; do not demean him."

Meekly Gort returned the sword to Lukat; who struggled proudly off with it.

"It have not yet occurred to them" said Annis dryly "That they might more conveniently divest you an they but waited to do so in your chamber; rather than carrying heavy armour hence."

Voltan laughed.

"I'm not about to enlighten them; it use up their boundless energy that they be tired enough not to need too much entertaining; and be ready to sit and listen to Father Michael's lessons."

Annis grinned.

"Devious creature, thou; hast already the instincts of a father that know how to save thyself too much trouble!"

"Well I suppose I need to practise" said Voltan laconically, smiling at her and glancing at her belly. Annis smiled back, flushing slightly.

As Sylvia was fascinated by the size of Gort, and must needs run back down to stare at him, Annis muttered that at least HE was taken care of; that her tiny sister should keep him out of trouble.

And by the evening meal, Sylvia was riding on Gort's shoulder and calling him 'Uncle Gort'; and prattling happily about how nice her biggest brother Voltan was.

Gort might be amazed; but he had a straightforward man's acceptance of a child's view.

And he stopped worrying about Hawk.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"CARDINALS? My Lords, you have both run as crazy as you used to do as children!" exploded Foregrim as Voltan outlined the task laid upon them for the benefit of his captains.

"Be nice, Foregrim" said Annis "Some lords keep hounds; others hawks. We have a mind to start a flock of cardinals."

Voltan's eyebrow twitched up.

"Flock?" he queried disbelievingly.

"Well all clergy are supposed to be shepherds; is not the collective noun transferred appropriately?" said Annis.

"I I daresay; I queried not the terminology, merely the numbers required for a flock, that I would judge must be a half dozen or more. Two, methinks, are all I can cope with; more be too irritating. Say rather, a brace of cardinals" said the warlord.

"My Lord will have his little joke" said Foregrim grimly "Aye, and My Lady too; but why? Why cardinals?"

"To irritate them into revealing which one be the wrong one" said Annis.

Foregrim snorted.

"What if the real one don't accept apologies for such ill treatment even an he be glad to be rid of an impostor and we be back in the church's ill graces?" asked Foregrim.

"An the men treat them with distant courtesy and Father Michael be nice to both of them we should strike the right balance" said Annis. "Hawk to be half apologetic but going on about the evil gnawing at the root of the church while our more pagan elements mutter comparisons of the Nidhog gnawing at the roots of Yggdrasil; and Voltan sneering faintly while I do mellifluous and douce."

"An you can keep that up" said Voltan grinning at her.

Annis grinned back.

"Oh thou doubter!" she laughed "Watch and learn My Lord and be not snide! Do I come as part of the kidnap party helmeted and disguised as anonymous man – or boy, rather – of yours, or must I needs stay at home with mine hands folden in my lap?"

"Lord above, I dread to imagine what you might be at, an I left you at home unwatched!" teased Voltan.

"Art unkind My Lord!" chuckled Annis. "Then an I might act your page so will I come, that I may see these churchmen from the first; and to undertake a gentle piece of exercise such as this to help restore my fitness after the illness; that the weakness have not entirely left me."

Voltan frowned in thought.

"You are much improved in health" he said "The affair with the slavers was a tonic for you; and methinks being active will do you more good than fretting at home. Very well; helmeted and cloaked. We ride out ere dawn."

A small party riding hard on good mounts might hope to intercept the cardinals in two or three days; so long as the weather remained crisp and bright and the wetness at the crag were just an isolated incident. Indeed, it had not, Foregrim reported, rained or hailed at the castle; and Hawk hypothesised that it were the height of the Abbey that had made its weather different.

The going was still hard underfoot that made too for speedy travel; and they might with safety go a straight route for much of the way without taking to the roads. The route the cardinals must take from the point that the archbishop had last heard of them was almost inevitable, for cardinals might not be expected to take a direct route whereby sleeping rough would bring them quickly to an objective. There were few enough hostelries between the river port where they had disembarked to travel overland and the king's court; certainly few hostelries as might cater to such great men as cardinals. Their journey would therefore be something of a dog's leg, as Hawk and Voltan discussed over Voltan's maps.

"And like taking them seven or eight days at that" said Voltan.

"Brother you be optimistic!" said Hawk "Such men as they will not travel more than eight or ten miles a day I wager; they will take a fortnight at least!"

"They'll not enjoy their journeying with us then methinks" chuckled Voltan.

"They weren't supposed to were they?" said Hawk dryly.

The party that rode to undertake the kidnap consisted of the Falconsburg brothers, Annis, Jehanne, Ranulf, Gort, Elissa and four of Voltan's men at arms. It did not include Lukat and Sylvia despite protests from the children. Voltan had threatened to beat them for disobedience; or worse, to ban them from being his pages an they made any more fuss; and they had lapsed into disapproving silence. Lukat particularly was certain his Lord would find it hard going without a page! He was only slightly mollified that Annis would serve such a function; for Lukat was convinced that he was indispensable to Voltan!

As the king's writ scarcely ran beyond the palace walls, and certainly no further than the immediate environs of the capital city, a kidnap would prove little problem to carry out and get away with. Only if they ran into a patrol of king's men would there be any possibility of trouble; or church knights. Hawk however was known to most church knights; and Voltan also carried a paper of absolution for the deed from the archbishop. And this too thy discussed as they rode.

"Think you that a strong chancellor would make any difference to the king, brother?" asked Voltan cynically of Hawk. Hawk shrugged.

"I don't honestly know; perchance he might. To my mind, as it stands, it is but the archbishop who holds the kingdom together and the Cathedral City that is home of the knights and its greater environs but the only region of true lawfulness in the country. That we be unlikely to meet patrols of King's Men at all; and only on the roads near the capital. There be not enough church troops to patrol the whole country; nor would it be entirely politic so to do."

Voltan sneered.

"So what we do is pointless? That who advise the king be immaterial?"

Hawk shook his head.

"No, brother, indeed not! For we may HOPE that a strong chancellor will aid the king; and give him the backbone he needs to run his own kingdom."

Voltan sniffed.

"I'd say young Jehanne could make a better job of it myself" he opined "That she have bigger balls than the vacillating fool on the throne. I say we should take back our lands and count what we take as our own kingdom and be damned to him."

Hawk sighed and pulled a rueful face.

"An we have law and order in the North it may be that the king can then run his kingdom better; and would, perchance, be advised by some to start a war with those who seceded from his country" he said.

"Whoever would advise that were a fool" said Voltan "He'd upset the fragile balance we be making; we alone hold the north in check" he said scornfully.

Hawk shrugged.

"Yes; but the fools in the capital know that not. And it is supposed to be a way that a king show strength, by bringing rebellious barons into line. We should run things as a kingdom but not make an issue of it methinks" he advised.

Voltan nodded.

"Glad you not be like to go on some fool quixotic errand to bolster the idiot king" he said "And bring ruin on yourself by so doing."

"Idealist I may be; but you said yourself, I am no fool" said Hawk dryly.

The party took to the road on the later part of their journey; for there were more villages nearer to the capital and riding across the fields might be remarked and even cause such lords as held land to issue forth to deal with an armed party on their demesnes. They galloped down a road that was at least hard for the frosts though it were no very good surface; and the trees and shrubs came all the way down to the road.

"Wonderful place for brigands" grunted Voltan "Remind me to have the greenery cut back on both sides on all our roads. Be a bit ironic, wouldn't it an we were attacked by brigands?"

Hawk laughed.

"Unless they be something out of the common way I wager they'd be in for a bit of a shock!" he said.

The progress was however cautious to that end, and they rode as fast as they might to pass the forest; and were at the alert when the tall, thin figure leaped out in front of the cavalcade, waving his arms.

He did not look like a brigand, but more like a scholar or cleric though first impressions were hard at full gallop. With difficulty, horses were halted ere they rode the fellow down; and in terror at the big warhorses bearing down on him he fell over backwards and sat hard on his rump, gaping in a foolish look of fear. The men laughed at his comical plight, and Voltan soothed a snorting and disapproving Nightmare. All loosed their swords in their scabbards lest this be a trap.

"This had better be good" growled Voltan "To risk your life and our steeds' tendons by so precipitate an entrance."

The fellow gaped again ere he found voice; and it was apparent that he was indeed clad in a fine scholar's gown of rich black wool napped and sheered to the softness of exotic foreign velvets beneath a cloak lined with soft squirrel fur of the finest white.

"I pray you, aid me, gentle travellers for my young Prince is hurt!" cried the man; then as Voltan moved slightly on Nightmare to peer closer at him he caught sight of the asymmetric helm and goggled "Oh my God! VOLTAN!" he squealed and tried to scuttle away. As he was too frightened to choose between rising to run and just moving out of the way before he were upright, the effect was absurd. Even Hawk grinned; and Voltan's men laughed again.

Annis swung off Rowan and seized the fellow by one arm to restore him to his feet.

"I am My Lord's page; and I have some skill at healing" she said "You speak of a hurt…prince."

"Oh no, no, not at all!" the fellow's teeth chattered "I – I was lying….. there's nobody but me."

"He has balls to protect his liege; one must grant him respect for that" said Voltan. "If this youth is hurt badly, shouldst let my healer see him. I've no interest in hurting him; though I'd be interested to know why a prince might be wandering so far from anywhere nominally civilised with but one attendant."

The bushes rustled and several swords were out; but they gave up but a lad no bigger than Annis, dressed in somewhat torn garb of silks and velvet lined with sable and other rich fur. He had a nasty contusion on his head.

"I go to assess the precious chancellors my father would have" he said in a young, rather quavering voice, for his gait was unsteady and his face pale with shock. "My Lord; as Caspar named you Voltan I presume he be correct; I have heard your name. I go with but one attendant because then I had the chance to actually go and escape for a while."

Voltan grinned.

"Your air of dignity despite a wound likes me, my lad" he said "But shalt sit and let my – uh, my page, minister to you."

Caspar made tutting noises but the lad sat shakily and thankfully on a stone. Annis washed and examined the contusion with care.

"You came off your horse and landed hard?" she asked.

"Not exactly good page; there was a fox that slunk out of the bushes and my horse shied. He is a bit high strung; and have suffered, like me, for lack of exercise and a good gallop this long winter. He took off, and I perforce with him into the forest. The branch I saw but briefly and made to duck; but I recall no more so I may presume I did not duck far enough. When I came to my senses, Caspar was there, telling me to lie still, that he would go for help. It liked me not to act helpless; and I am not always obedient to my tutor" he added half apologetically "Ah, that feels good" as Annis soothed on balm. "But, My Lord Voltan, I'll not have Caspar sacrifice his life for me by pretending lies and thus raising the ire of the notorious Dark One. I am more valuable alive and could be doucer an you treat my man well."

"Boy, you have thrice the balls your father has!" roared Voltan "And art more kingly by far!"

The boy both looked pleased at the compliment and winced.

"Art over loud, My Lord, for the lad's poor head" said Annis reprovingly "You forget your battlefield voice might shatter windows at twenty paces."

"My apologies lad" said Voltan "Shatter windows? Thou froward creature, I think not!" Annis grinned unrepentant.

"I would say, My Lord" said the boy quietly "That you wrong my father; he is a good man. But the level of lawlessness is such that he have given up."

Voltan snorted.

"Well, you look to be no quitter" he said "I wager you'd never give up – if only you had the chance to learn to be a warrior!"

The boy brightened.

"Can you teach me while I'm your hostage?" he asked.

Elissa laughed.

"Art beset by them, Lord Voltan!" he said. "First Annis now this lad!"

Voltan scowled.

"Boy, I have no intention of taking you hostage; I have no quarrel with your father. Merely little respect for him."

"Well as you're here, can I run away and learn anyway?" said the prince "If you'll only teach me to be a good warrior 'd not forget that when I grew and came to use it."

"I thought, Prince Florian" said Hawk " – you ARE Florian, aren't you?" – the boy nodded and Hawk went on "That you wanted to inspect your father's new chancellor. Dost turn aside from that?"

The boy flushed.

"I did; and an I be honest it were as much for some excitement as to hope that some churchman make any difference" he admitted. "That I somehow doubt. My father was taught in the court of the Merovingian King as a child, and learned that a king and his court should have culture; but methinks culture be something that a warrior might enforce at swordpoint once he have a proper kingdom to be cultured in."

"I LIKE this boy" said Voltan "Perchance we should keep him; he's wasted at court, poor brat."

"Oh I am" said Florian "I hate dancing and smalltalk and giggling women."

"Oh, dancing be a worthwhile thing for a swordsman to practice" said Voltan "I dance. It keeps you fit in winter and gives your feet more nimbleness as may prove decisive in battle."

"Not court dances" said Florian gloomily.

"All dancing have some merit" said Voltan firmly "Some more than others. Shalt learn mazurka and such other athletic dances as we dance in my castle."

"Are we taking him then?" asked Annis, deftly tying off a bandage over a pad of linen well soaked in comfrey tincture.

"Yes please" said Florian.

"My PRINCE! This is VOLTAN!" protested the hapless Caspar.

Voltan grinned wolfishly.

"Don't tell anyone, Caspar, but I found love and decided not to be quite so wicked" he said "The boy will be as safe with me as so froward and self-willed a brat would be with anyone."

"I LIKE you, Lord Voltan" said Florian "You don't grovel and 'Highness' me but you're not some crass ruffian or cruel opportunist either else I had seen it in your face."

"An you be my page shalt have no deference and nought but harsh words and the odd cuff about the head" said Voltan. "Shalt work on your sword work until you be sobbing with pain and weariness. Shalt start every day in trepidation over what tests I shall set you. Dost still want to come to me as my page? I shall have no mercy on your estate, I shall treat you as I would mine own son – with the harshness that will save your life one day."

"If it teach me all I need to be king" said Florian, putting up his chin and wincing slightly as his head jarred.

"Heh, I said you had balls!" said Voltan.

"We ought to let his father know, you know" said Annis "The poor man will be out of his mind with worry."

"Oh, a fine idea!" said Voltan scathingly "And if the court knows – as they will an the king knows – that the boy be with Voltan the Warlord, why then, it be easy enough for a boy to die an he be ambushed and his mentor warlord be blamed for it; clearing way for another claimant to the throne and at the same time getting rid of a strong lord like myself in one blow. Mine enemies would leap at it."

"Firstly, My Lord, it seem that to do that they must introduce one into your castle; or at least in the neighbourhood, as we must soon know about" said Annis "And an the boy just disappear as you suggest, and his father in no wise a young man, how then might he claim his birthright when the old man die, that he might put into effect all you will teach him? It be well enough an he be able to return while his father still lives, but another claimant might as easily kill the king when his son be disappeared; and work to make sure he stay disappeared."

Voltan scowled.

"You have an irritating habit of being right" he said.

"Glad as always to be of service" said Annis mockingly.

"Will I be as free in my manner with My Lord as this page?" demanded Florian.

"Hardly" said Voltan dryly "And the reason you'll find out soon enough so I shall tell you; she is my wife."

Florian stared.

"My apologies, My Lady" he got up to bow "I took you for a lad mine own age; and hoped for much sport together."

"What lovely manners you have!" said Annis "We'll spar together as though I were but your own age for I'll have the initial training of you; and there be youngsters to make sport with and be punished beside when you get caught at it."

Florian grinned.

"I know not how good I be with weapons" he said "I always beat my weapons master but methinks he have been ordered to let me" said he.

Annis frowned.

"Then he is a fool that he not be true to himself" she said "You cannot learn an you have not had painful lesson as to where your weaknesses lie. Well then! Shalt write to your father for the good Caspar to carry message back that you have run away to the North to be a page to, let me see, just say a northern baron, that you learn to be a warrior. Say too that Hawk the Slayer is aware of your resolve and has pledged his support and service to you. You do, don't you my brother?" she glanced up at Hawk. He laughed.

"Thou managing vixen, aye, I do" he leaped from his horse and knelt before Florian "I pledge you my faith, my liege; whom I recognise too from being at your father's court that may pledge knowledge of who you are."

"As I too recognise you, Lord Hawk, now you have advanced yourself" said Florian gravely.

"Think not that I shall not cuff my prince to help him learn and assist in painful lessons" said Hawk "My brother trained me by such methods; as he have trained his wife; and they work."

"Oh Caspar cuffs me an he feel I need it" said Florian "In sooth he have done more of bringing me up than any other, that I have seen most of him since I left the arms of my nurses."

Voltan regarded Caspar with respect.

"Hah! It is you then that the lad has to thank, methinks, that he not be a monster of vanity but a fair-spoken young nobleman with kingly manner as we have seen" said the warlord "Art a good servant to him."

Caspar swallowed, changed colour several times and said,

"Please, Lord Voltan, do not make me carry message; I would fain not leave my prince!"

"Well, if you don't, who is then going to take message to his father?" said Annis.

"What about the monks that accompany the cardinals?" suggested Hawk.

"The boy should be anonymous" growled Voltan.

"Aye, brother; he will be when we get there, dressed in plain garb. But the monks may carry sealed message."

Voltan and Annis exchanged a look of exasperation and Voltan indicated Annis to speak.

"Brother Hawk art too trusting" said Annis. "For first, an we have a bogus cardinal he may have bogus monks as will not discharge a duty; and for another, consider. Lord Voltan will be recognised as the bold abductor of our cardinals; and an one of his band then give message for the king, then it become obvious which 'a baron' Florian be talking about. Caspar, do you understand that we be cagey for protection of the prince and wouldst be capable of your own caginess?"

Caspar nodded.

"I am not sure I approve of my prince's decision" he said "But I would wish to be with him whatever befalls."

"Then return temporarily to the palace" said Annis "With the boy's letter; and say that he wanted more clothes brought to the Abbey of the Crag whence you might be conducted to the place he have gone. When you reach there, we shall arrange you an escort to him, promptly losing any other busybodies that may be attached to your train. Shouldst be with him in two weeks at the most."

"And – forgive me, lady – what do you mean by 'lose'?" asked Caspar.

"She means snuck out from under the noses of" said Hawk "My brother and his wife do not kill out of hand those who have not done harm to their people."

"Lord Hawk, I beg you, advise me an I do right" said Caspar "For you are said to be wise; but also you are said to hate your brother with a passion."

Hawk shrugged.

"For your ears only, for the nonce, my brother is reconciled with the church; and he and I have forgotten any sins that lie between us" he said. "Methinks entrusting your prince to Voltan that he train in the north could give him the chance to save his father's kingdom; and, too, give him the chance to grow up without plots of assassination around him. I recall he have a cousin who is none so good a man though he use douce enough words to the king."

"My cousin is a creep" said Florian "That speaks to me like I be a babe in arms and seem full of douce bonhomie; but he makes me cringe."

"Heh; then let us hope he tries something in the north and we can kill him more conveniently and pretend we thought him but a brigand" said Annis. "Besides, an we may bring up the next king, we shan't have to bother to take the kingdom and make you king, Hawk".

Hawk spluttered.

"I WISH you wouldn't come out with things like that, Annis!" he said.

Annis grinned.

"Dost rise so beautifully" she said. "And in serious vein, an Florian be learning to be king, and as he went to meet cardinals, he should be told exactly what we be about; and we must then risk telling Caspar who seems to be a good and loyal man with the same."

Voltan nodded; and outlined their mission to Florian. The boy's eyes sparkled.

"What fun!" he declared "What then may I do to irritate them?"

"Be a normal ten year old boy" growled Voltan "That is usually a good start!"

"I know!" said Jehanne, speaking up for the first time as she measured Florian up. "We shall be HELPFUL to them, Florian; it'll drive them crazy! I am Jehanne; Annis is my stepsister and I am Lord Hawk's page. He's a doucer master than my goodbrother Voltan but when he cuffs you, he usually means it; for Voltan cuffs in affection as well as in anger. You'll pick up the difference soon enough, though neither is hard enough to really hurt. It be rebuke more than punishment."

"MORE female warriors?" gasped Florian.

"In the north ALL need skills to fight" said Voltan grimly "Which is why too I train my peasant women to use crossbows that need no very great strength to wield."

"I – I fancy I may have been rather more than a little sheltered at court" said Florian.

"You have, boy" said Voltan. "Now, let us catch your overbred mount and canter the megrims out of him; and send Caspar back to the capital while we capture ourselves a brace of cardinals. As soon as Florian be clad more as befits a page and less like an overstuffed courtier."

Florian flushed; but grinned.

Lord Voltan seemingly said exactly what he thought without any recourse to either tact or lies!

Florian was not displeased; he was sick of the duplicity of court, where a man might be praised by another, who then spread poison about him behind his back.

That Voltan had not the silver tongue of a courtier did him no disfavour then in the boy's eyes; that he looked forward to learn from a man that had sworn to teach him so well that he would ache for it rather than lie about what might seem hard in the time to come. Florian determined that such men as Lords Voltan and Hawk would be those in whom he would place his trust when he was king; not those who whispered the most accomplished flattery; and this was his first step to being a good king one day!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Two cardinals sat uncomfortably in an hostelry's refectory. It was a cold and draughty room, the chill barely alleviated by a sullen fire that puffed more smoke into the room then it gave off warmth. The sooty, smoky smell but imperfectly covered the smell of boiled vegetables and grease that pervaded the whole building in a mephitic miasma. The respective servants of the churchmen hovered around, trying not to shiver.

"Damned landlord ought to be hanged for misrepresentation" growled Alessandro Cordo "This isn't an inn, 'tis a station on the way to purgatory!"

"We should be tolerant" murmured Rollo de Clairvallet in a beautifully modulated voice, steepling his fingers with his exquisitely manicured hands in an attitude that was not quite that of prayer as his fingers touched.

Alessandro gave him a look of dislike and seized the flagon of coarse wine to pour another goblet full. His fingers were short and his nails cut back short and looked as though they had never seen the attentions of a manicurist in his life.

Though both were dressed in a cardinal's red cope over their ecclesiastical robes there the similarity ended; and indeed the copes themselves could not be much more different. Clairvallet's cope was of rich velvet; Cordo's was wool, of fine quality but still wool.

Rollo de Clairvallet was a tall, elegant looking man who had an air of austerity to him that made his finery look as though it were but at the behest of his flock that he was so finely clad; though he were every inch a prince of the church. Under his scarlet cope his robes were understated but of a fine silk brocade, tone on tone in pristine white, and a fine gold thread picking out the pattern of leaves and vines. He looked as though he had but just left the ministrations of his servant. He gazed upon the world down a finely chiselled faintly aquiline nose that no man might call hooked nor large but that was long enough to look aristocratic. His whole bone structure was as finely built.

Alessandro Cordo looked faintly rumpled. He was a short, stocky man who was big without being stout and he looked as though he might be more at home wrestling oxen then preaching sermons. He had broad, spatulate hands, a broad face with a short, square nose to it and coarse-pored skin. Under his cope he wore a gown of wool as fine as the cope but that had seen better days; it was not worn thin, but had been plucked at some point and actually had a darn in it. The darn was well executed and argued a good servant. Perchance he had not that servant with him, for his clothes looked as though he had slept in them and showed no signs of having been ironed.

He snorted as he drained the goblet.

"My niece could cook better than this fool on a fraction of what it cost us" he growled.

Rollo de Clairvallet gave a pained smile.

"Oh please! That old chestnut? An you have a bastard daughter, shame the devil I pray you and admit to it honestly, not use such euphemisms as 'niece'."

Cordo scowled even more.

"As it happens" he said "Despite your smutty expectations, the girl I speak of IS my niece; my sister's child. Celibate I may be, but funnily enough my parents were not and they gave me more than one sibling. Thus I do at least know where babies come from without personal experience; as I somehow doubt that you do."

Without, Voltan and his men were listening at the inadequately shuttered windows; and there were several grins at that riposte.

"Almost as snide as you, brother" whispered Hawk.

"Not that he look the part so well as the other" said Voltan "Dear God, I suppose we have to live with some sanctimonious fool that will do the king more harm than good. Good and Holy the genuine one was described as; I suppose that translate as pi and irritating."

"Well that we shall see; though I fear you be right" said Hawk. "Ready?"

The conversation within continued.

"You are fatuous" said Clairvallet after assimilating Cordo's insult.

"I'm getting bored with your company" said Cordo.

Then the door crashed open.

Several people appeared at the shutters that opened as though all pulled on one string, causing even more draught and a puff of evil smelling smoke like some insubstantial demon of doom issuing into the room.

There was a black-clad, armoured figure in the doorway, backed by other warriors.

"Your eminences" purred Voltan "I fear you must consider yourselves my prisoners."

"Good God!" said Cordo "Fellow has a sense of style at least I suppose."

De Clairvallet was on his feet, white with wage, his beautiful nose pinched and white.

"What is the meaning of this outrage?" he demanded. "Who are you to attack princes of the church thus rudely? GUARDS!" he shouted.

Voltan laughed.

"I fear your guards suffer an unaccountable attack of sleepiness your eminence" he said "We slipped a draught into their ale; even church troops drink ale at a filthy hole like this where the water be suspect. Here, you two" he snapped his fingers to those monks hovering closest to their masters "Fill a satchel each with necessary clothing for an extended stay with me for your masters. Florian, Joachim, go with them to make sure they do as they are told – and no more" he used Jehanne's pseudonym as her sex was not apparent in winter travel garb; and advertising his female warriors was not something he was prepared to do.

"Ah, Lord Voltan" said Cordo, calmly "I pray you'll feed us better than the crook that have charged two crowns apiece for a flea-ridden chamber and indifferent stew with tough, yet overcooked meat that may yet prove to be rat or worse."

"Oh? Should I hang him for lese-eminence?" asked Voltan.

Cordo shrugged.

"I was aiming on forgiving him – AFTER the memory of this meal had left me by the usual route; ghastly as it was I think I will not be like to vomit."

"I DEMAND to know what is going on!" cried Clairvallet.

"What, had you not worked it out?" said Cordo "This is – by his helm – the notorious Lord Voltan, epithet The Dark One, enemy of the church and all mankind, who wants, I presume, to ransom us. As his soul be past praying for, I pray instead that he have a decent cook."

Clairvallet paled and swayed.

He had heard of Voltan.

"Dear God!" he managed "Of course you be like to have heard of him for you ever associate with low company!"

"Like publicans and sinners" murmured Cordo brightly.

Voltan gave a harsh laugh.

"I thank your eminence for explaining the realities to his eminence" he said. "When your packs are ready and you have donned your cloaks we leave; your horses have been saddled. Or at least, the two best horses in the stables."

"Efficient anyway" said Cordo "I take it that there be nothing we might do to dissuade you from this sacrilegious action – like threatening you with vomiting on you for galloping on a stomach full of rubbish?"

The youth stood at Voltan's elbow reached in a satchel for a bottle and handed it to the cardinal.

"Fennel and dill water" said Annis crisply "It will settle your stomach. My Lord dislikes being vomited on."

"Thank you my boy" said Cordo and took a swig, passing the bottle to Clairvallet."

"Thank you: no. I abstained from the noisome stew" said that prelate icily "And you know not what is in that brew Alessandro that may be a drug or poison!"

"It smells of dill and fennel; and an he want us as hostages he's hardly like to poison us" said Cordo calmly "Moreover, an it be a draught to dull our senses and make us more tractable, that too means we would know little of what is going to be, I feel sure, a horrible ride."

Clairvallet pursed his beautifully chiselled lips and looked like a disapproving angel told that the hinges of the gates of heaven squeaked.

Florian and Jehanne returned with satchels filled with clothes, and were followed by two resentful monks.

"Your servant should be in penance" said Florian stiffly to Clairvallet "He got fresh with me, the dirty little stinker."

The young monk whose golden curls clustered about his tonsure flushed.

Colour rose too to Clairvallet cheeks in displeasure.

"I do not think I really know what you mean" he said distantly.

"He touched my cods" said Florian bluntly "and desisted only when I held my dagger to his."

The prelate turned on the pretty young monk; and for a moment his face was a mask of fury that rendered it a caricature and robbed it of its austere beauty. Then it was under control.

"My son! I am ashamed of you!" he said, his voice level "You will say three dozen paternosters as soon as we arrive."

"Oh, he can say them at his convenience after you leave" said Voltan. "What, thought you I'd saddle myself with your servants? Mine own pages will make themselves useful to you – and you may learn too to shift for yourselves and practice a becoming and holy humility."

"OUTRAGEOUS!" spluttered Clairvallet "Dear God! This is terrible! I must pray for guidance on how to proceed!"

"You'll proceed on horseback" said Voltan "And you may pray on horseback too. A man of your position in the church needs not a chapel to contact the Almighty."

"I – my pre-dieu! Will the boy bring it?" asked Clairvallet. Voltan frowned; then nodded.

"Have you some altarpiece you cannot bear to be without?"

"I find perfectly good serenity in studying the beauties of nature, thank you Lord Voltan" said Cordo. "I need not artifice."

Voltan nodded curtly.

"Good; less trash for us to cart around. Your cloaks, gentlemen; and time we were away. Ralph, the inkeeper?" as the man emerged from the inner door.

"All secure, My Lord" said Ralph "And hearin' the comments on the food and findin' fings the way they were in the kitchen I thrashed the fellow well for being little better than a common poisoner" he added.

"Ah, Monseigneur Cordo will doubtless appreciate your actions" purred Voltan "What DID you find?"

"Other than the filthy conditions as I'd hesitate to use to cook without diverting a river through like that Hercules fellow there were jointed rats; like he guessed" said Ralph laconically.

"Good Lord" muttered Cordo "It be many years since I last ate rat; I hoped I spoke in jest! I HOPE he had boiled them not roasted?"

"Aye he had; he weren't that much of a poisoner at least" said Ralph grinning nastily "So you should avoid disease. You look robust enough, y'eminence."

Clairvallet had gone faintly green and had to be assisted to his mount.

"Ar, there be nuthin' wrong with a bit o' rat ef there bain't anythink else" reassured the man helping him onto his horse.

"But pigeons are better" said Cordo, dryly, swinging himself up onto his horse.

"Ar, but you gotta boil them too or make sure they be well cooked" opined Ralph.

"Are you Lord Voltan's culinary expert?" asked Cordo.

"Nah, y'eminence, but I be his trail cook; and Lady Annis, what's his wife, she taught me how some fings carry more disease nor others" said Ralph "There bein' a mort o' difference between doves reared in a coop in a fancy hall and wild pigeons. You be peasant born me lord?"

"Aye; peasant born and reared poor" said Cordo "In a large family of few as survived to grow up. And so I be much more inclined to enjoy the better things in life."

Clairvallet sniffed contemptuously.

The pretty monk had followed the cardinals out, sobbing heartbrokenly. He laid a hand on Clairvallet's stirrup.

"Forgive me, My Lord!" he begged.

Clairvallet looked coldly down at him and shook his foot to dislodge the supplicating hand.

"How can you expect to earn forgiveness until you have done penance?" he said coldly. "Get out of my sight; I want not to see you while all I can think of is your sin and shame."

The young monk ran stumbling back in, sobbing.

"Harsh" said Annis to Voltan "As the boy know not when he will see his master again."

"It do seem unnecessarily cruel for a Godly man whose creed preaches forgiveness" said Voltan, mockingly.

Clairvallet flushed.

"I but feared retribution on him from you for his inappropriate behaviour towards your page" he explained smoothly. "The lad is a disturbed youth; far too emotional and uncertain of his own feelings. He will recover from the disappointment of mine inability to give him absolution without penance."

Annis and Voltan exchanged looks. They had their own ideas about the youth and his relationship with the cardinal.

And such did not necessarily mean that Clairvallet were not genuine for any breaking of his vows; too many priests saw their vows as naught but an inconvenience to be ignored and broken in a variety of ways. Indeed as so few upper churchmen were as devout as they might be it were easier to believe that Clairvallet were the genuine prelate not the rumpled and rough Alessandro Cordo.

They would see.

After his initial angry outrage, Rollo de Clairvallet was coldly polite; and ignored the warlord to bend over his horse's saddle bow in the attitude of prayer for the first part of the journey, necessitating that he be led; for his eyes were shut. The pace at which they rode was fast; to take them far away before any at the hostelry manage to find someone to raise the alarum at the nearest monastery or town. Clairvallet affected indifference to the speed and to what must have been some considerable discomfort as the horse galloped along the hard, uncompromising mud of the road. The stars shone brightly in the cold night air twinkling like bright jewels and seeming close enough to reach out and touch; though the beauty of the night was lost in the greater part to the riders who were intent on getting a goodly distance from the inn. At least tracking them by night was like to be an impossible task; and they would turn off the road ere long and cut across country. Breath came in clouds of steam from horses and riders alike and the ride was taken for the most part in silence, with mufflers over the face, not so much to hide faces as to keep warm. The younger members of the party scorned such of course; and it was they who rode up to peer at the praying prelate.

"Goodness!" said Jehanne brightly – and audibly – to Florian "Aren't the ways of upper churchmen strange? I like to be awake to say my prayers!"

Florian caught on quickly and grinned.

"Perchance it is some rule of the church" he said gravely "On a road like this with so many pot holes too, I'd as soon pray with an eye to know how my horse trod but I suppose God wafts his most choice servants out of trouble."

"He didn't waft them out of the trouble caused by our Lord Voltan" objected Jehanne.

"Yes, but it IS said that Lord Voltan is the spawn of the devil incarnate" said Florian "So I suppose he have the devil's own luck."

"Is it so said? I'd not heard that one" said Jehanne brightly "I'D heard he have the devil's own temper because he took it from Old Scratch by force when he invaded Hell."

"A hot and dry siege, surely?" laughed Florian.

"He'll do, this princeling" Voltan muttered to Hawk "Those two are quite priceless; look at Clairvallet, there's all but steam coming out of his ears."

Hawk grinned.

"Aye; and my page as bad as the boy" he said ruefully "She be more Annis' sister than she know methinks!"

Voltan chuckled.

"She admires my wife and emulates her" he said "Pity she's too old for Florian….that might have been a good match and some excellent alliance for our family an they get on so well when they be grown."

Hawk blinked; and realised he did not like that idea.

He had a sudden revelation. Annis had made her sister his page with an object in mind!

"Voltan, your wife is the most manipulative virago in the world!" he said.

Voltan laughed.

"What, it's taken you this long to notice?" he asked his brother.

Hawk pulled a face back at him, and dropped back to the two youngsters.

"You two imps should take a turn at leading his eminence now we leave the main road" he said "That he not stumble whilst at his devotions; for not all can concentrate on praying and doing something else at the same time."

"Wasn't there the founder of a monastic order who said that to pray is to work and to work is to pray, My Lord?" asked Florian innocently.

"And you two idlers know as much about work as about prayer – leave it to those whose duty it be" said Hawk winking at them "Lazy creatures that you be, shalt make yourselves useful!"

The cavalcade turned off the road and made across the fields; and for a man that did not look where he was going, two guides might well be considered necessary.

The youngsters duly made themselves assiduously useful; though it may be said that they went even further than Hawk had anticipated calling to each other such things as 'whoops, take care of that pot hole' and 'watch those stones!' and 'hey, don't lead him through a pile of manure!' as they led the cardinal's horse in an exaggerated fashion back and forth, until the poor thing hardly knew what was going on and added to the confusion by fighting the pull on its bridle; and the austere face was distinctly green. Clairvallet snapped open his eyes and snatched the reins back with a,

"Thank you, I can ride for myself!"

"I DO hope you enjoyed your prayers" said Jehanne innocently "Did you pray for all of us, too?"

"I prayed that the Good Lord shine His light into the heart of Lord Voltan and turn him away from his path of wickedness ere the church destroy him" said Clairvallet in al low, musical but compelling voice.

"HAVE he a heart to shine a light in?" asked Jehanne "I thought he was supposed to be heartless."

Voltan chuckled menacingly.

"Oh absolutely child!" he agreed "It be too late to pray for me, your eminence" he added.

"Clever wording" murmured Hawk; for the cardinal was rather behind the times in that respect!

They journeyed on in the dark, the moon but a sliver in the sky as it hastened down towards the western horizon, being but a few days old and so hasty to its bed. The constellation of the Hunter swung past overhead and still they rode in the clear, cold night; and Voltan, Annis and their men at least found it exhilarating.

"Lord Voltan, I would ride and speak with you" Cordo called.

Voltan dropped back beside the cardinal, leaving his brother leading the cavalcade at their rapid canter.

"What can a man of the cloth have to say to me?" the warlord asked "And what makes you think that I should wish to

speak with you?"

"Well then, so you may not wish; but I should like to ask question of you; to know an there be a specific price in gold, goods or kind that you ask for our release and safety. A man likes to know what he be valued at by temporal measure; and I should too like to know how long it may then be before any sum you name may be found."

"Ah, idle curiosity?" Voltan asked.

Cordo shrugged.

"Perhaps it may be so; but by asking such I hoped also to gain an insight into what it is you seek. I find you intriguing; you shun the church, they say, save as hostages. That seem to me that you acknowledge the respect due to those of the cloth and perchance be an indication that the church, or one who was of the church, have done you some injury that you seek some kind of general revenge in such actions."

Voltan looked on the man with decided respect.

"You are a clever fellow, your eminence" he said softly. "It is no secret to those who know me that while I fought in the north under my father's banner I swore and blasphemed like any soldier; and questioned the likelihood of holding back the pagan hordes and questioned that it were even God's will that we should. Those sanctimonious fools who ran tales to my father of my rash and despair filled words cost me my father's blessing and my birthright; and that started my despite of the church and of sanctimonious hypocrisy. Other things added to that. Satisfied?"

"Not really…oh, excuse me" the prelate belched loudly "Good indigestion brew that; better out than in, I assure you! Where was I? Oh yes. I just wanted to mention that churchmen are as different one from another as the laity. Not all enter the church for any good reason. I did not at first; I did so to escape grinding poverty" he scratched an ear absently "And I found the calling came later" he added. "Not all find a calling that match ambition. And some be sanctimonious twats as you have found be they sincere or no."

Voltan laughed.

"Well you do not mince words either" he said "Have you not been told I dislike being sermonised?"

"Yes; but I thought I but made a point" said Cordo "And an it were a sermon I would say it anyway. Your pages adore you, the little scamps, the girls as much as the boy; and that argue against a man lost to all feeling. One who can be loved must be capable of love in return. And only those who are loveless are lost."

Voltan looked at him anew.

"Sharp eyes, haven't you?" he said dryly "Or an eye for a pretty girl."

Cordo laughed.

"Nothing wrong with appreciating all of God's creation; so long as it be but appreciation not lust. And as to mine eyes, well, what do you expect? Before my wits earned me education I was a very fine poacher."

"What, more a snarer of souls than a fisher of men?" quipped Voltan.

Cordo roared with laughter.

"Oh very neatly put, Lord Voltan!" he said "You are very quick; why, perchance this enforced visit to you will at least not prove too tedious that at least there will be witty conversation!"

Voltan at last called a halt in a woodland glade; and swiftly tents were erected to sleep in.

"Dear God, must we sleep in such?" asked Clairvallet.

"As thus you would an the king you would serve should go on campaign and take his spiritual adviser" said Voltan harshly "It be not perchance so luxurious as the king would provide; but it be as good a tent as any soldier have and better than many. Be not such a little girl!"

Clairvallet's face assumed that brief, ugly look again ere he forced it into saintly acceptance.

"I accept that you do your best, my son" he said.

"No you don't; and I'm not your son" said Voltan shortly "Sleep; you have four hours ere we be on the road again and I'll not argue with you for I want mine own rest. And we sleep in relays that we get less than you; think not that you'll not be overlooked front and back."

"May God forgive you your roughness" said Clairvallet, biting back the added 'my son' ere he voiced it when Voltan scowled at him.

He did not go to sleep straight away but worked his way through the service of Matins loudly enough to have those sleeping first muttering that if God enjoyed being bothered by that loud fellow, maybe Odin wasn't such a bad option after all as let people sleep at night.

Cordo murmured his own prayers quietly to himself gazing at the stars through the bare tracery of branches of the trees and was felt by the soldiers to be a more sensible fellow by far.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Rollo de Clairvallet insisted on observing all seven offices of the day with pomp and circumstance; or at least as much as might be achieved on horseback. At first, for those that fell when they were stopped to rest or eat he demanded his pre-dieu to do so for Prime the first morning as they waited on Ralph's preparation of a hasty oat pottage to break their fast.

"I'm not unpacking that thing every time you want to pray" said Voltan, shortly "Surely you believe in a forgiving God?"

"Of course; God forgives us all an we be truly repentant, my son" said Clairvallet "Even an you would but repent."

He had forgotten Voltan's declaration that he was NOT his son. Voltan took that from Father Michael and the Archbishop; and he sneered at Clairvallet without having to try very hard.

"Then he'll likely forgive you for not having the usual paraphernalia" the warlord said "Monseigneur Cordo does not seem to need it."

Clairvallet gave an austere smile.

"Poor Alessandro!" he said tolerantly "One does wonder how unpriestly he seems in so many ways; such bucolic manners sit strangely on a cardinal I must say!"

"And I like him the better for it" said Voltan "Now just get on with it; and an I hear another word about your wretched pre-dieu I'll cut it loose from our baggage pony and leave it where it lies."

"NO!" cried Clairvallet, springing up "I – I mean, I implore you not to!"

Voltan gazed at him cynically and turned on his heel to seek out Florian and grab the boy by the arm.

"You complained that fellow's pre-dieu was heavy. Could it be as heavy as gold?"

Florian stared.

"Not solid gold, My Lord, else I had not managed to lift it. But….it would explain much."

"Like why he got so upset about me threatening to cut it loose and leave it where it fell" said Voltan grinning wolfishly "When we get to the castle, you and Jehanne take it to the carpenter and discover all its secrets. I'll not have that prating fool trying to bribe my men with a secret store of gold."

"He's a more typical cardinal than the other, I'm afraid My Lord" said Florian.

Voltan shrugged.

"The archbishop said to produce a good chancellor for King Casimir. He wasn't that specific about it being necessarily the genuine one."

Florian grinned.

"Sounds good to me, My Lord" he said "Methinks I LIKE this archbishop."

After a day of loudly sung offices and doleful, accusing looks for Voltan's refusal to stop for them the kidnappers conferred as soon as Compline was over and the cardinals were stowed in their tent under guard by the men.

"I fear" said Voltan "That Clairvallet is a typical upper churchman. What think you, Hawk? You know more of such obnoxious types than I do."

Hawk ignored the jibe cheerfully; for it was not barbed.

"I fear I have to agree, brother" he said "His cold unkindness to the young monk for his sins and his otherwise irritating manner despite; the latter may even be a means to spite his captives on purpose as his only means of small rebellion. I recall" he added his own jibe "That Annis once threatened to sing hymns loudly at you."

Voltan gave a half grin.

"Aye, she did that" he said.

"And just because he's a homosexual does not exclude him either" said Annis.

"I beg your pardon?" said Hawk "Who says he is?"

Annis looked at him and sighed.

"You are SO innocent, brother" she said "His manner to that self same young monk says so; the lad was like a travesty of a girl trying to please her lover. But I'll take mine oath he is not a girl disguised as a monk; he have a boy's ways with an…..effeminacy…..laid on it. Anyway, no girl would be like to be so forward as to touch Florian privily; it's just not the way girls do things. An you think back, would you not say that the manner of Clairvallet to that lad was not so much of righteous anger over an impropriety but a jealous rage that his catamite had touched another?"

Hawk considered and frowned.

"'Fore God, I believe you are right, Annis!" he said.

"I noticed, and made independently the same surmise, as does Annis" said Voltan. "And an he be genuine I should be unhappy that he be adviser to the king; not just for his Friday face and sanctimonious prating but for the being near the king's young – and rather good looking – son" he nodded at Florian.

"He'd not get anywhere near me in such a manner" said Florian in disgust.

"No; probably not. But his attempting it could not be anything but embarrassing" said Voltan. "And you'd have to worry about any page boys or companions of yours. Cordo is a bit rough and ready; and – forgive me, brother – an he be genuine or no, I be more greatly drawn to him. He is perspicacious and have insights that are quite remarkable" and rapidly he repeated the conversation he had had the previous night with Cordo as they rode.

"That be very telling" said Hawk.

"Look at their underwear" said Annis.

"ANNIS!" said Elissa.

"I think that went by a little fast for me, Annis" said Hawk "I confess myself mystified."

"Sorry" said Annis "I meant that if Clairvallet is beautiful on the outside – and to my mid he's too beautiful to be true – and yet wears a hair shirt beneath then we KNOW he is genuine."

"Not all churchmen wear hair shirts" objected Hawk.

"Oh no! And not wearing one means nothing; but an either do have a hair shirt it's fairly good proof. I personally think that making yourself deliberately uncomfortable is silly; but I can see that truly pious upper churchmen might use the same to remind themselves that there is more to their office than gaudy and pretty robes."

"I hadn't looked on the custom that way" admitted Voltan "Else I would have added a stronger epithet than 'silly'. But I take that point and accept it, even an I still like it no more than you, my love."

"We'll look at their underthings when we pack away their clothes from their satchels" said Jehanne "I saw nothing untoward in Cordo's stuff."

"I'd say what I saw of Clairvallet's linen was that it were of the finest" said Florian "We need to offer them baths that they must strip and check what they take off."

"Good lad" grunted Voltan "Well thought out. And Jehanne better minister to Clairvallet that she not be in any danger from any predilections he might have as Florian could be."

"He might just love the monk and not generally chase other boys, you know" said Annis mildly "I like him not; but one should be fair, My Lord, even to cardinal. Art jealous of me; and scowl at any that admire me, though you are a more reasonable man than he and are not unkind; but wouldst not chase another pretty girl an I were not with you and we had a period of enforced separation."

Voltan grunted.

"No: I'd move heaven and earth to be with you. But that catamite was a blatant flirt. And that argues that either Clairvallet has been a besotted fool who have now discovered that his lover might deceive him; or else the younger but takes his tone from the older. And in the first case, he might look to avenge that flirting by turning his attention to another; and in the second, out of sight being out of mind he may look for a….diversion…..during his captivity."

"We can but watch him carefully" said Hawk.

Voltan grinned wickedly.

"An YOU watch him too carefully, brother mine, shouldst guard thine own rear passes and beware lest he make a pass at you; for art pretty enough still and as slim as any youth years your junior that he be like to fancy you!"

Hawk looked horrified; then laughed ruefully.

"Voltan, canst always get to me!" he said.

Voltan chuckled

"It's what big brothers are for" he grinned.

"This is all beyond me" grumbled Gort "Give me action and I know what to do."

"Aye; and you be along on this because an we have action we shall need that ability" said Voltan "That the rest of us may hope that you spend the whole trip being bored for nothing to do. For we shall be glad of you an the trip not be boring."

"And I must say it were most amusing and made MY day when you threatened to speed up Clairvallet by picking him up horse and all an he dawdle any more" laughed Annis of an incident earlier that day "It will take us quite three days to get home at this prodigious slow pace if not four; why do we not push the pace a little?"

"Because, the soft fools that they are, not hardy people like my pregnant little wife, they be unable to take military pace" said Voltan scornfully "And we ARE supposed to keep them more or less in one piece."

Annis snorted.

"Pair of little girls" she said in disgust.

The journey back was accomplished by the end of the third day by Voltan pushing the speed on the last leg, that had Cordo gritting his teeth, unwilling to be shown up by the two young girls in the cavalcade; and Clairvallet praying and exhorting heaven to send punishment to a warlord that sent such torture upon righteous men.

Annis, overhearing that snorted.

"Torture? Torture, your eminence, is riding at something above this pace for three or four days straight leaping from horse to horse and perchance a couple of hours to sleep each night when you dream, as I am told, that you are still riding. As messengers be expected to do. We're ambling along at an unconscionably slow pace because you churchmen are such feeble types we don't want you to break."

"FEEBLE?" spluttered Clairvallet.

"Feeble" said Annis.

"Pert boy; shouldst repent of your sins of impudence else you shall surely burn in Hell!" spluttered Clairvallet.

"Well if you expect to go to Heaven, I'd as soon be somewhere else in any case" retorted Annis.

Voltan was chuckling as she urged Rowan forward to ride with him and Hawk.

"You lost your temper" he said.

"Partly" said Annis "Partly I thought of what sort of thing YOU might have said to irritate Hawk in the old days."

"Ah, you know me well!" said Voltan.

"At least acquit me of being as sanctimonious as this priest" said Hawk.

"You came close when you were younger, brother" said Voltan "You and Annis ride on ahead and apprise them that we be nearly here; and Annis may then be all My Lady to greet us."

"Excellent" approved Annis "Rowan is raring for a decent gallop!"

They clattered into the courtyard and Annis threw the reins to an ostler to give herself more time to wash off the grime of travel as well as putting on a gown; and the company of the castle got ready to greet their visitors.

Voltan had left orders that chambers be prepared for his ecclesiastical prisoners. He had decided to have them confined in the dungeon at first, at least. A large dungeon chamber – once used for large numbers of prisoners held commonly – had been made moderately comfortable, as Hawk checked. Two beds had been set up, and bed chambers made by the use of wooden partitions for some privacy, with an eating or living chamber between in which a table and two chairs had been set up, which room was warmed by a brazier. A barred window here looked over the marsh and was not too high to see out of by a man standing and it had been given a shutter that opened inwards for the convenience of the prisoners, with panes of horn to let in light and shut out draughts. There was a small garderobe and an antechamber, probably originally intended for slightly more important prisoners, that had been sanctified by Father Michael; and it was equipped with an altar and a crucifix and hassocks for kneeling. The accommodation was a little basic; but then the intent had never been to make the churchmen too comfortable. They should at least not be too miserable.

"We are arrived at last? Praise God, a chance to rest after so awful a pace!" cried Clairvallet.

"Think you that was fast? As my page said, we dawdled for you weaklings" said Voltan roughly "As I do NOT have to do for my wife an she ride with me, nor her little sister. Art not as hardy as my womenfolk, you soft creature; or else you wasted all your breath and effort on excessive praying rather than on riding."

There was enough truth in that to cause Clairvallet to frown.

"Ah, Sweet Lord, listen to how he boasts that he force such horrors on his wife and her innocent sister!" he cried.

"Not THAT innocent" Jehanne muttered to Florian "He'd change his tune an he knew it were I as be Annis' sister."

Florian grinned.

"I wager" he replied.

"Methinks your wife must be a most remarkable woman, Lord Voltan" grunted Cordo.

"She is" said Voltan simply, forgetting to be the rough warlord in the face of praise of Annis.

They clattered in the gates and had scarce dismounted when Lukat flung himself on Voltan.

"My Lord is late returning! What delayed you? You SHOULD have taken me to care for you!" he declared accusingly.

"What, as though thou mightst have stopped a side trip I made to collect another page? And surely thou, for all thy good will, couldst not have speeded up our tardy and dilatory guests!" roared Voltan "Thou whelp, thou brat!"

The effect of his tone of censure was entirely destroyed by Lukat giggling.

Sylvia put up her arms to be picked up for a kiss, and when that had been furnished ran over to Gort for a ride. Annis swept regally into the yard to sweep a deep curtsey to Voltan as he left the horses with the ostlers.

"My Lord" she said formally "Your eminence; your eminence."

Both cardinals blinked at Annis' outstanding beauty and her tiny, delicate frame. She wore a gown of dark blue wool napped and sheared to the softness of velvet, and over it an overgown of white quilted silk that came to a point at the front just below the level of her knees. The quilting was executed in gold thread in an all over lozenge pattern, simple but beautiful; and gold embroidery trimmed the hem and cuffs of her midnight blue gown.

Cordo caught his breath.

"She could be a Madonna" he murmured to himself.

"Ah, you poor child, wed to this monster; for I see that you are but young and vulnerable!" cried Clairvallet.

"And serene" said Cordo dryly. "You DO scrub up nicely, My Lady."

Annis permitted a dimple to dance demurely at him. THIS one knew how many beans made five!

Voltan followed plan by jerking her roughly to her for a savage kiss; which he had been wanting to do for several days anyway.

Annis surrendered happily to his masterful embraces, before murmuring,

"Rust, sweat and horse; lovely smells"

"Virago" said Voltan cheerfully. He waved a hand for the cardinals to be escorted to their prison, the pages to unpack the satchels and check both the underwear and to see that nothing untoward had been slipped in unnoticed by the cardinals' servants; as Voltan said, HE'd expect HIS servants to have the initiative to hide useful things like knives in a like pack prepared for him.

The monks were not, as the youngsters reported, so resourceful as Voltan expected his servant so be; and there was nothing to tell of what was in the packs save what was supposed to be there. Once they had taken the pre-dieu to the carpenter, Voltan gave them leave to please themselves, that Florian might be shown around and meet Lukat and Sylvia.

Lukat was half inclined to be jealous; but Florian quickly won his heart by saying,

"You have first claim to carry My Lord's sword; I acknowledge that. But I must learn to fight and Lord Voltan is the best teacher. And I think having a little brother in a fellow page such as yourself would be main good fun; I always wanted a little brother."

"Lord Voltan had lots of fun with Lord Hawk who's HIS brother when they were young" volunteered Lukat. "I bet we can get into more trouble than they did!"

"I bet we can too!" agreed Florian, who had rarely had the opportunity to get into trouble before and was looking forward to it greatly!

Voltan sank into a hot bath, heaved a sigh of contentment and ordered his wife to join him.

There was quite a lot of water spilt; but the floor was stone so it did not, as Annis said, matter much.

The cardinals were meanwhile deposited in their prison and left to get on with it. And the men who escorted them there and saw to guarding them did not even know what a pre-dieu was, let alone know what Clairvallet was talking about; since they had not been on the ride. Consequently, when he agitated about having it brought they just shrugged.

"Look, mate, I dunno what this predew thing be nor do I care" said one "Lord Voltan will see to anyfink wot needs seeing to. And if you don't pipe down and stop causing grief, all you'll get is a smack in the kisser, see?"

"He said shut up making such a fuss or he'll hit you in the mouth, Rollo" translated Cordo.

Clairvallet lapsed into offended silence.

The pre-dieu was brought to the prison some hour or so later.

It was a number of pounds lighter in weight.

It took the form of a folded triptych depicting the Passion, the Nativity and the Ascension; and the paintings formed the side of narrow boxes, within each of which was a goodly store of gold.

Voltan counted it, wrote a receipt for the total amount and dropped it back into the centre box. The monies would be kept safely until he decided to let Clairvallet go, an he so decided, and might then be restored to him to go whither he would. For unless Cordo was a fraud and a sinner of black proportions, Voltan was becoming more and more convinced that he would make the king a better chancellor than Clairvallet whatever his credentials. Not that he would make any final decision until he had them observed them for longer; and the returned pre-dieu should give something that was worth observing.

The guard later reported that the private devotions of Clairvallet in his own sleeping chamber were interrupted by a howl of anguish and outrage.

Voltan roared with laughter.

"And truly, My Lord, almost an act of piety to help him overcome the temptation of worshipping mammon" chuckled Annis.

"You're as bad as Voltan" said Hawk, trying not to chuckle.

"What, compliments, my brother?" said Annis, grinning at him.

Hawk laughed.

"Art a worthy couple; either that or you deserve each other!" he said.

Voltan visited the prison.

"I have, as one of you knows, removed the means to attempt to bribe any of my men" he said silkily "That were, I assure you, for your own protection. My men be simple fellows and half pagan at least, some of them; that be like to react to such an insult with their fists. I hold the sum safely; hence the receipt for the amount I found; and an, by the dismay on your face, it be not all you expected I assure you that whatever else I may be, I am not a common thief and another must have already helped himself. And I can guarantee it were not any of MY people, that one might assume your own servants be light fingered" he looked scorn on Clairvallet "As may be inferred from your need to carry your secret store thus and not let your closest servant hold it on his person. And an you be wondering how I came to find it, why, hadst not made such a fuss about the thing, I had not investigated it. For I wondered at your insistence upon it and looked for reason other than the indifferent artwork. Personally, I'd have said using your God's life as a money box were faintly blasphemous; but what do I know? I've been excommunicated by at least one of the three popes."

"That, my son, means you have NOT been excommunicated by two; which outnumbers the first" said Cordo while Clairvallet was still spluttering "The pre-dieu was it? Rollo, I'm surprised."

"One must be practical in dangerous times" said Clairvallet through clenched teeth "I placed my trust in God to guard what funds may have aided our plight, Alessandro, my brother. Believe me when I assure you that I prayed deeply before taking such a step."

Voltan laughed.

"Pardon my cynicism, but I'd say that the prayer was like to have run along the lines 'please God let no-one find it' as already failed an there be a shortfall" he said "That perchance God permitted a theft to demonstrate His disapproval of such an use put to it."

Clairvallet gave him a look that was meant to be icy hauteur and looked more like petulant dislike.

"I would ask a question, Lord Voltan" said Cordo.

"Ask" said Voltan.

"The chapel you have set up for us – is it sanctified? An it not be, there is equipment me must needs request to do so" said Cordo.

"It is sanctified; I had the priest of the village church do it in preparation for your coming" replied Voltan "He would not deprive you of a place to pray, whatever he may think of me."

Cordo shot him a shrewd look

"You're an interesting man, Lord Voltan" he said.

"He is a wicked, evil, thieving creature who will burn for all eternity in Hell!" hissed Clairvallet.

Voltan recalled that once such a comment would have set his maimed face burning and throbbing; and blessed again the sweet healing of Annis. He laughed.

"I'll save you a seat by the fire then" he said.

Clairvallet spluttered again.

The cardinal were left much to their own devices for the day round; though of course they were watched. And then, one by one, they were taken and permitted to bathe; under the strict supervision of hard-eyed men.

Neither one had a hair shirt but Clairvallet had soft linen of a kind normally only found amongst princes and the highest nobles. Cordo wore rough common linen as did most men; though it was sewn exquisitely.

"His niece's work – or her mother's, his sister, I'd guess" said Annis, examining it while he bathed "This were sewn with love not as a task merely paid for. I like him."

"So do I" said Florian "And one day it'll be me he's advising. I DON'T want Monseigneur Moanalot."

"I must say that using a pre-dieu as a money box is rather…..well, it argues against Clairvallet's bona fides of a sudden" said Hawk "But he might have thought it right to so hide church valuables; and he knows all the services. Cordo skips bits."

"He keeps to the gist though" said Annis "We watch for several days; no contact. That should rattle them into damaging slips."

"Agreed" said Voltan "Besides we have much to oversee in the village; bandying words with fool priests is NOT what I have time for."

Hawk opened his mouth and shut it again.

Voltan found time for those priests he approved of; like Father Michael. Michael was not happy about the kidnapping but bowed to the archbishop's will.

And Michael was one of those taking a turn to observe covertly.

He too had been shocked at the use of the pre-dieu as a money box and disapproved on general principles of Clairvallet's luxurious garments; and had informed Voltan firmly that he would try not to be prejudiced on such grounds.

Voltan had laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Good Father, art the fairest minded and most objective man I have ever met" he said "I have no fears on the score of you being in any wise prejudiced."

"Well so I pray, my son" sighed Michael "So I do pray."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The villagers were taking advantage of the dry, if cold weather to rebuild such of the village as had been destroyed or damaged by the marauding armies of the besiegers from the previous season. Voltan's men were helping; and doing so now with a will. The siege had forged a community of castle folk and peasants.

Voltan went out to look over what had been done so far and to pass out words of encouragement – and if needed censure – on the way the work progressed. He encouraged the small children making themselves useful by stirring mud, straw and horse dung to make the daub to go on the wattle walls, and sent the one with pinched cold fingers to go in to see Annis and called to the women cooking for the workforce to heat stones in the fire to put in linen bags for the children to hang round their necks to warm their hands on from time to time. He also suggested to the soldiers that those who had skill as mercenaries might turn their knowledge of siege engines to building cranes to lift the heavy roof timbers.

It was a good and productive scene and Voltan was pleased.

He had to admit it tickled his sense of humour that the children would now run to him to ask for errands and regarded him as something wonderful, where still adults were wary and decidedly nervous of a rebuke.

One young man approached the warlord with the look of a hopeful puppy and tugged his forelock.

"My Lord, I do crave your permission that I might wed" he said.

Voltan blinked, taken aback.

"Why should you need my permission?" he asked.

"I am your serf, lord" said the young man.

"Hmmph" grunted Voltan "Have I many serfs? I confess I was more concerned with keeping you all alive through the siege and then the winter than with finding out your status."

"There are some twenty three of us, My Lord" said the young man.

"Well then, I shall see Father Michael about drawing up the proper papers of manumission; I'll not be tarred with the brush of a slave owner and 'tis tantamount to the same. 'Deed I'll count no man on my lands serf" growled the warlord "Who be you wedding? Have I not seen you with the little blonde girl that went from child to woman over the winter?"

The boy beamed at him.

"Aye, My Lord; Iselt her name is. And she be free" he said "As have caused her parents some concern, that her children might be counted serf an she marry me. They need not worry any more – THANK you My Lord!"

"Well now" said Voltan "Shalt tell Bullard that he may organise men into building a good house for you and your bride."

Voltan was given a ragged cheer by his serfs as he passed back through the village later.

It was absurdly easy to please people and win popularity, he reflected. Easier and less trouble – as well as being rather gratifying – than creating fear by oppression.

Not that he had any objection to his people having a healthy fear of his wrath; it gave them incentive to avoid incurring it. Such fear as was felt of his temper was brought back to his mind when Bullard brought before him one who fell weeping to his knees before him, begging clemency. The man's wife knelt too, weeping, her children sobbing and clinging to her skirts.

"What happened?" asked Voltan.

"Tammas here fought Villim up in the rafters of the cot they were building" said Bullard "And he did push Villim; who fell and has died shortly after of his injuries."

"Well Tammas, why did you fight Villim?" demanded Voltan.

"Because he was always after flirting with Grissy – my wife" said the accused "As she don't like for it make her feel soiled, see? And he taunted me and say she'd be happier with a real man like him, by what he mean, a loudmouth braggart that treat rough such fool women as fall for him; and me a sissy, he say, account of having served half a novitiate afore I figured it weren't for me, and being able to read."

"Hmm" said Voltan "I read fluently, Tammas; I've yet to come upon any that would call ME a sissy for my learning. Have Villim any dependants, Bullard?"

"He got a bastard on Jen River" said Bullard.

Voltan turned back to Tammas.

"Shalt be flogged; ten strokes of the rope and shalt pay the keep of Jen's child" said Voltan "There was provocation; and I doubt not the push was in frustration and not meant that the outcome should be deadly. Am I right?"

Tammas nodded.

"I – I did not MEAN to kill him" he said "I sort of forgot how high we were."

Voltan nodded.

"Try not to make such an idiot of yourself again. And doubtless Bullard can use a man as is literate. And Bullard; you should have seen this developing and stopped Villim pestering Grissy."

"My apologies, My Lord" said Bullard "I fear I did not notice; I've been otherwise busy."

Voltan nodded.

"Aye; we've all been a trifle preoccupied" he said; and looked down on the woman, now sobbing relief and kissing his feet. "Stop that Grissy!" he ordered harshly "And an I find out that you encouraged this flirting, I shall flog you too."

"Oh NO, My Lord!" gasped Grissy "'Tis why he pursue me; that I be the one that never fall for his so-called charms."

Voltan nodded.

He could believe that; some men were like that.

Tammas too kissed his feet in gratitude; for he had expected to hang.

Voltan sighed.

Rewarding it might be to be loved as well as he seemed – inexplicably – to be; but occasionally it were a trifle fraught too for he was expected to know all the answers and have wise judgement always.

It were challenging in the extreme not to let his people down.

oOoOo

Florian and Lukat were both well spanked later by Elissa; who reported to Voltan that she had overheard them mourning the fact that frogs were still in hibernation else they might have taken the skiff round to the cell window and given the cardinals a plague of frogs; and they were wondering what was about to make into a plague.

Voltan gave a shout of laughter.

"And well it were to spank them for getting caught voicing the thought!" he cried "Little horrors! Hawk, did we ever come up with anything so bad?"

"I don't think so" said Hawk "Unless you count the filling of our tutor's bed with slugs."

"Oh yes; I'd forgotten that" grinned Voltan "HOW he whipped me; out of all proportion, I always thought, to the offence" he frowned "It were not the beating I resented; that I expected as I expected to shield you, my brother, for you were not even breeched at the time. It was the severity I have always resented. A lesson to bear in mind with the discipline of our pages."

"YOUR pages" retorted Hawk "Mine's grown out of such fits and foolishness."

"Indeed? She's the same age I was at the slimy incident as I recall….still, perchance girls are less trouble" said Voltan, grinning wolfishly at Jehanne, who was listening.

"I'll try to be more trouble an you like, My Lord" said Jehanne brightly to Hawk

Hawk groaned!

The cardinals, blissfully unaware of having narrowly avoided a plague of frogs, settled down to largely ignore each other. Rollo de Clairvallet read the Bible diligently; and Alessandro Cordo used a piece of charcoal from the brazier to write poetry on the wall.

On being apprised of this, Voltan had him sent paper and quill that he might write more conveniently; and Cordo asked that his thanks be returned to the warlord for the courtesy.

Kai, who was taking his duty on guard, asked,

"Beg pardon, your eminence, you do not read the Bible as much as the other eminence."

Cordo smiled.

"I was illiterate until I was about eleven" he said "But with a retentive memory; I learned the gospels by heart and much of the rest of the New Testament; and many psalms. I like to exercise my memory by reading to myself out of mine own head. 'Tis what I be doing when I lie on the bed gazing seemingly at nothing; and too I like to find appropriate psalms when I gaze out of the window. It is easy to read, without necessarily thinking about what it is that you are reading – not that for one moment I suggest that Monseigneur de Claiervallet is NOT thinking about what he is reading – and I find I may meditate better using my memory."

"Thank you, My Lord, for being kind enough to explain so fully" said Kai. "Lady Annis do say that every part of nature be singing its own psalm; I s'pose that be what she means?"

"I think" replied Cordo "That what she means is that all nature rejoices to belong to God. The psalms of the Bible are a mortal expression of some of that joy as seen by mankind; but life rejoices in being and that is a wordless song of praise."

Kai beamed.

"Why, thank you My Lord!" he said.

Clairvallet looked up from his reading.

"Why ever do you waste your time on these unwashed pagan ruffians?" he said to Cordo in his beautifully modulated voice.

Kai flushed.

"Excuse me, My Lord, I be not unwashed; dirt causes disease so Lady Annis says. And I may appease the old gods but only on the offchance I don't get into Heaven if it be full or someat."

"Heaven is not like a castle bounded by walls" said Cordo, ignoring Clairvallet utterly "It have many mansions; each one fit to whoever may be in it and room for all" he considered a moment "Those who cannot get in are those who think themselves righteous and who yet do not display love, or charity as it is sometimes translated, to others. We see but through a glass darkly; but an we love we cannot go far wrong. Which is why I think many people are wrong about your lord, Voltan; for he plainly loves and is much loved."

"Ar, he be a main good lord" said Kai "And less hot of temper than of yore; he won't tolerate weakness and stupidity – d'liberate stupidity that be, like he respect them as have physical weakness and fight to overcome it, same as he respect people what's simple and do all they can with what they have, like Caleb. He don't brook disobedience neither; but he be a fair man."

Cordo nodded, satisfied; and sat down with his own thoughts.

Kai subsequently reported the conversation; and Voltan did not chide him that he had given away much information in his talk, for the man was honest in his reporting and realised not how much Cordo might have learned.

The more the warlord thought about Cordo, the more he liked him.

It were time to split the cardinals up.

Accordingly , Voltan had Cordo sent for. The cardinal smiled at him.

"Am I in trouble for pumping your man without his knowledge?" he asked.

"I'd expect nothing else from a clever man like you; Kai is a good man but not subtle" said Voltan "And I ask you not let him realise how much you learned; I've not told him. An I give you more freedom, will you give me your parole?"

Cordo glanced at him to check he was serious; then considered.

"Aye, I believe I will" he said.

Voltan nodded.

"Then shalt have a chamber in the keep and use the castle chapel for your devotions" he said.

"And Rollo?"

"Can stay where he is; I don't like him" said Voltan calmly.

Cordo raised an eyebrow.

"Not necessarily the best way to choose who has freedom and who does not" he said.

"Let me put it this way" said Voltan "An he gave his parole I don't think that I'd trust his word. If he's a genuine cardinal, I'm the pope's daughter."

"Ah" said Cordo "I was beginning to wonder."

"You're not entirely beyond suspicion yourself" said Voltan.

Cordo shrugged.

"At least you trust my word" he said "And for what it may be worth, I be ordained as Cardinal by Pope Pius II of the south. Not to be confused with Pope Pius II of the North or Pope Julian of the East."

Voltan grinned sardonically.

"Well he's one of the more credible ones anyway" he said. "I'll have the lads move your things up to your new quarters; you may eat at the High Table with the family and my closest retainers."

"Thank you; I appreciate that. Your food as served in your prison is wholesome and good."

"It be very little different to what we eat above the salt" said Voltan "I've little patience with fancy fal-lals at the High Table; so don't expect it."

Cordo laughed.

"Wholesome, well cooked food does for me. I like my stomach and good food; but I be no epicure."

"Just as well" said Voltan dryly "No cook for such would stay a moment in the north! Nor" he added "Would I want one; I had rather see my men fed well and properly."

The warlord reflected that at least Annis had taught good plain cooking to his cooks; and the food was now more wholesome, his cooks having consisted of a trail cook and two undercooks that were little more than scullions who had not contrived to flee when he took the castle as the overcook and his senior undercook had managed to do!

Alessandro Cordo enjoyed his relative freedom; and made the most of it, chatting to various servants and such off duty soldiery as were not engaged in working in the village; and discovered that most of them were. Leaving the castle had not been discussed in his parole; but he went to ask permission to visit the village.

Voltan hesitated; then asked Gort if he would bear escort to Cordo.

"The villagers are not fond of upper churchmen" he said "Some of the more venally rapacious were along with the armies that tried to besiege my castle last autumn and destroyed the village. Gort will protect you from too much insult and will discourage any from throwing eggs."

"I see" said Cordo, startled "I do accept that he will also prevent mine escape."

"That too" said Voltan.

Cordo walked amongst the building works observing; and listening to banter between soldiers and peasants. Some were building; some were harrowing and ploughing in the detritus left by the armies and preparing for spring planting. Annis walked among them, binding up the wounds of one who had given himself a nasty cut on the plough, and another who had broken a bone in his hand with a careless hammer and passing out salves and advice to those with common blisters. She nodded to Cordo and carried on her work. Bullard was permanently busy, checking all things including overseeing the opening of a new field where forest had been hastily felled for firewood; and was directing too the planting of saplings on heathland to replace the lost forest. Cordo spoke to him knowledgeably about such techniques as pollarding and coppicing; and Bullard listened courteously and clicked his fingers a couple of times for a couple of men that he asked Cordo to instruct.

"That sound main useful, My Lord; if foreign techniques do work in the north" he said.

"Trees grow according to God's order wherever" said Cordo laconically.

Next he went to see Father Michael.

"I've you to thank for our altar; thank you" he said.

"It were churlish of me not to do so simple a favour" said Michael "That took but time and prayer. I'm glad it helped. You have given parole, have you, or are you due to be sent to the city?"

"I gave parole. You expected that? Lord Voltan is not the man spoken of in hushed whispers and frightened glances that I expected him to be" said Cordo "Whilst one might not call him genial, he had certainly been courteous; and even moderately kindly in our usage. I half expected, from his reputation, to sleep in a rat filled damp dungeon with but a pile of straw to lay upon. Instead of which our dungeon was more comfortable than some of the rooms we have had in hostelries upon our journey. And Lord Voltan is loved by his vassals; as is his wife as I have heard from the soldiery in the way they speak of her and seen in the way she tends the peasants. What is the real purpose of this so-called kidnap?

Michael shook his head.

"I'm sorry, your eminence, I cannot – will not – discuss that without consultation with My Lord Voltan."

"Even to a senior churchman that order it?" Cordo elevated an eyebrow.

"No, your eminence" said Michael, calmly.

A messenger rode in from the Abbey of the Crag that Caspar – and escort – had reached the Abbey safely and Voltan sent Elissa and her picked men to collect him.

Elissa consulted with Annis and rode forth in skirts that only caused her men to laugh until she had floored one of them; and which caused a little excitement on the way with a band of brigands hoping to capture a noblewoman. They were unprepared to be ridden down and massacred by the supposed noblewoman and her train; and Elissa paused long enough to hang their bodies from the trees they used for ambush to make the point, Voltan style.

Once in the abbey she used her skirts ruthlessly, crying

"Caspar darling!" and manoeuvring the startled tutor into a bedchamber – alone – by wrapping herself around him and manhandling him firmly.

Once alone, she unhanded him, and proceeded to give him certain precise instructions; much to Caspar's relief.

Accordingly, Caspar picked up his pack and the plainer of the spare clothes for Florian and slipped out of the men's dortoir in the grey of predawn, wondering what he might have let himself in for; and hoping he was right to lose the escort of a knight, four men at arms and half a dozen servants for the use of His Highness as being considered the minimum that were indispensable.

When he reached Voltan's dour black castle, whose intimidating appearance was working even more uncertainty in his mind, to be greeted by a happily slimy object that was Florian beneath the grime, his misgivings started melting. Florian introduced Lukat as another page and equally slimy, and showed off the catch of fish they had made to go into the pot.

Caspar was delighted.

Florian had had no sort of childhood hitherto; one reason that Caspar had indulged his 'adventure' well dressed as duty to go and greet the cardinals. And in a few short days, the boy looked healthier for a solid introduction to the sort of grime small boys naturally attract and the activities small boys enjoy.

Voltan greeted Caspar pleasantly enough, bare headed back on his own territory. Caspar stared.

"My Lord, I thought your face was supposed to be scarred!" he said.

Voltan grinned.

"It got better" he said "My wife is a remarkable healer. Master Caspar, will you teach the other pages their lessons too? I cannot pay as well as the king but I would be glad an you be prepared to accept what I may pay. Father Michael has done his best, but he feels inadequate to the task of anything more than basic literacy, figuring and introductory Latin. I would they learned higher mathematics and history."

"Oh yes, My Lord, I'd be happy to teach them; and as I be paid to teach Florian I need no extra from yourself, as long as you will give me my board and keep" said Caspar "And as long as I might cuff them for failure to attend and – for serious disobedience – take my belt to the naughty ones."

"Shalt not beat Sylvia beyond an open hand smack" said Voltan "As she is but seven years old; nor more than one blow with the belt to Lukat as is of the same age and who have had a lot of pain already in his life for being born lame, that he be taking painful cure of the same. I had preferred you be gentle with Jehanne also."

Caspar nodded.

"I have beaten Florian once; that were for a dangerous jape and the beating was for frightening me" he said "It be not often necessary but I need to know I have such in reserve."

Voltan nodded.

"On that understanding, willingly I permit you to punish as you see fit" he said "Good; they are young limbs and in need of occupation; for Father Michael is too busy in the village and I have myself too much to do to give them more than a couple of hours instruction a day."

Caspar found his charges obedient enough; and quickly made them more willing pupils than they had been before, for he was a good tutor and made lessons interesting. Father Michael, whilst an expert at the brief, poignant, sermon, found teaching children a harrowing experience; and he was glad to cede that responsibility to Caspar!

Caspar enjoyed having a larger class where his pupils might debate matters; and looked forward to spending some years here, all misgivings gone in the cheerful atmosphere of the castle.

He did not neglect the leisure of the children; explaining half apologetically to Voltan that Florian had not had any sort of normal childhood, and that he wanted the young prince to learn to play too.

To his surprise Voltan nodded.

"Aye; my brother Hawk was trammelled for being sickly as a baby. It irked him much. Let the boy have a good time; between lessons, for an your scholars have some tightly controlled time Florian – and the rest - will appreciate their leisure the more! And they'll all learn things in play without realising it, that by their talk you may perchance add to; that if they bridge a stream for fun, you might teach them some engineering that they think be unwittingly useful of you to build an improved one."

Caspar grinned.

"My Lord is cunning" he said "I like the idea."

Florian was having the time of his life.

Being allowed to be an ordinary little boy was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him!

And though sword training with Lord Voltan was every bit as painful and exhausting as the warlord had warned him, Florian accepted it as a necessary way to improve. If the Lady Annis, who looked so fragile, could take it, so too could he! Florian was determined that an he was to be king, even an he were not the best swordsman in the kingdom he should be one of the best; for only a warrior considered mighty should lead other warriors. And he was learning from one of the two greatest swordsmen ever known – so it was said – that he should have the chance to be one of the best!

Better yet, he was learning more of the arts of war than just the physical side; for Voltan set aside an hour every evening to speak on matters like siege warfare and the necessary, if not glamorous, art of provisioning. Florian had never considered it before; and if asked would have shrugged and dismissed it as not really important. But Lord Voltan pointed out that the difference between a man who might win battles and a man that could win wars was in the supply train; and that supplies and provisions were the most important part of any army, for the men will not fight for a general that lets them go hungry, and if they succumbed to disease for the lack of proper food, and the lack of provision of latrine pits then there would be more out of action for disease and weakness even an they not die of it.

"More besieging troops die of disease then from action of the enemy" said Voltan "And of course, the besieged be at risk of starvation. Provisioning is everything."

And having been told this by his hero, Florian nodded solemnly and believed; and learned.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Hawk got to bed to find it impossible to get his legs down it; and something prickly assaulted his feet.

He tore back the covers to find an apple pie bed and pine cones; and gave a half exasperated sigh and went to the door to shout,

"JEHANNE!"

Jehanne, not yet undressed, arrived from closer by than her turret bedchamber that she shared with her sister Sylvia. She looked altogether far too demure.

Hawk regarded her thoughtfully.

"Pinecones?" he asked.

"Wrong weather for slugs, My Lord" said Jehanne.

"As well for you; shalt sort out the sorry mess that is my bed, and not need to wash slimy sheets."

Jehanne giggled.

"I wouldn't want you thinking I was staid, My Lord" she said.

"Oh you're not that" said Hawk ruefully "I suppose Florian is a better companion to you than I at that."

"Oh NO, My Lord!" said Jehanne "I mean, he's a nice little boy – and he has some good ideas about some funny things to do – but he is only a little boy after all. I'm old enough – as well as being a girl, that I think makes a difference – to notice that some boy-things aren't always as much fun as I'd have thought a year or two ago. I guess" she sighed "That I'm growing up. So I have to get my childhood done while I still can or I'll miss it."

Hawk laughed sympathetically and ruffled her golden curls.

"So you'll be a pest for a while as you work it out of your system?"

Jehanne grinned at him.

"Probably" she said "Were you going to whip me for it?"

"No" said Hawk "Methinks you deserve the chance to be a pest for a while; I'll do my best to endure it with my usual stoic phlegmatism."

Jehanne grinned again; then cleared up dutifully and took herself off to sleep as Hawk climbed, still chuckling to himself, into a pinecone-free bed. She was a delightful child; and as yet, just that: a child. He had felt protective towards an uncertain young girl who felt deeply the fact that she was but half sister to Annis' half sister Sylvia and had been defensive about it. That Jehanne had found herself now enough to be mischievous was to Hawk's mind very good. And he must accept that, though he had become very fond of her, she might seek out younger companions than himself. Hawk had a sudden insight into how Voltan had felt, waiting for his betrothed Eliane to grow up, and then discovering she had chosen another. And he and Eliane HAD gone behind Voltan's back, albeit without intent to hurt him. Now that Voltan had his Annis, Hawk had to admit to a pang of jealousy, glad a he was for his brother; not so much over Annis herself but over what she was for Voltan. He was glad that Annis had dragged Voltan from the self-destructive course he had been on; and he loved her dearly as his sister-in-law; but he was glad she was not HIS wife! What made those pangs of jealousy were the idea of a wife who was a partner in all ways, who would fight at his side; that concept was attractive. And Jehanne was a taking little thing; pretty too in her own way, with rich corn-gold hair, curling where she had cut it to act the boy; and unusual pansy-brown eyes in a peachy skin that glowed with health and vitality. She was a tall, sturdy girl without being heavily built; and was doing very well in sword training, even though she had not got Annis' instincts for it. Hawk laughed again, quietly to himself, that he knew fine well that Annis had expected him to come to love her courtesy-sister and had pushed them together in suggesting that Jehanne be page to Hawk. And an Jehanne love another, he, Hawk, must stand back and learn to smile for her sake.

Poor Eliane.

Neither he nor Voltan would have made her a good husband were she still alive; for a woman who needed to be continually cherished needed a husband prepared to devote himself to that idea, not be swayed by other causes.

The flash of a picture of Jehanne standing at his shoulder to fight against the northmen to take back Ravensburg castle filled his mind.

It was a good picture.

Hawk hoped it might one day come true; and fell asleep on happy dreams of getting into mischief in his youth in their ancient home.

oOoOo

Rollo de Clairvallet doubtless had less pleasant dreams than Hawk; especially since all he knew about Cordo's disappearance was that the other cardinal had been summoned by one of their rough captors to go to Voltan's presence; and he had not returned. The other cleric's clothing had been gathered and taken away by a silent warrior, whom Clairvallet had scorned to ask questions of anyway.

When the morning came he did swallow his pride to ask if ransom had been paid on Alessandro Cordo. The grizzled and battlescarred man who brought his breakfast – such a horribly HEARTY breakfast of cold roast meats, bread and pottage – shrugged.

"Dunno 'bout that y'r'onour" he said 'Bain't my place to question be it? Nor would I; not of VOLTAN; he do have a quick temper, see?"

Clairvallet bit back a curse and Foregrim grinned to himself on his way out over his overacting of bucolic stupidity. Clairvallet had continued to observe the seven daily offices but he had skimped a little on matins last night as had been reported by the quiet watcher on guard who had been a monk before he had been thrown out of the monastery he had served in for killing a brother. That the said brother had been trying to rape him was not even considered as possible by the rather stupid and naïve prior; and Brother Hugh, now just plain Hugh, had conceived a sufficient resentment of the church that he had sought out Voltan and asked to be taken into his service. Hugh was learning to trust the church again, or at least some of its representatives; and was glad his early training had given him such useful skills as to know to a crossed 't' the details of every daily office. He was in other respects less martial than the other troops but for his literacy skills was invaluable to Voltan as his supply officer, and was thus left mostly unmolested by the others who knew they relied on him to be well fed and clothed. Still, such extra duties helped Hugh to feel appreciated the more and he had thrown himself into watching the churchmen. He pointed out that Clairvallet's shorter prayers might have been as a result of worry as much as a betrayal of his lack of devotion; but the time had come, Foregrim decreed, that all three secret spy holes were to be used to observe the man closely without his being aware of it. It had been part of the preparations that such covert means of observation had been set up; and there were four holes, but as one was into each sleeping chamber that was superfluous in the case of Cordo's. The one on the floor above looking through the ceiling covered the whole area and the screens were not ceiling height to that end; another observed Clairvallet's sleeping chamber and the final one observed the little chapel.

If Clairvallet was getting lax, it might not be too long a job after all.

It was plain enough who Lords Voltan and Hawk and Lady Annis had picked as chancellor; but if this austere fellow be genuine, it were harder to get rid of him and they must needs show him some modicum of respect.

Cordo had managed to impress the children by knowing a great deal about hunting and fishing and they told him cheerily that they would ask Voltan if he would extend the parole to a day's hunting in the marsh.

"I'd appreciate that" said Cordo "Florian. You know, I've heard that name somewhere else; but it cannot be that you are that Florian that I have heard of, for art a grubby brat and treated like any other grubby brat."

Florian grinned. Monseigneur Cordo could fish with words as well as a line; and the young prince was not about to be caught out admitting to being of royal blood to refute a derogatory description.

"Methinks it be not so uncommon a name" he said cheerily "Not like Voltan; there is only one Voltan and an you tell me this Florian you know of be as notorious as our Lord, I must beg leave to disbelieve you, sir."

Cordo laughed.

"Well, perchance he may learn to be – one day" he said.

He knew; and Florian knew that he knew; but it lay unacknowledged and accepted. And if he told the king, well at least some time would elapse ere that occurred and Florian would yet have some good out of it even an his father demanded that he return to a pampered durance vile in the palace.

And then the messenger clattered into the forecourt, his horse lathered; and he fell off the beast, questing with his eyes for Voltan.

Voltan was drilling his men in the use of light shield and spear to use against horsemen and was at the side of the messenger in one effortless, panther-like bound.

"The Northmen, My Lord! They come!" gasped the messenger, and passed out, as Voltan noticed the arrow in his side.

"ANNIS!" the warlord roared, summoning his wife "You children – to the village to ring the alarm bell! Get them all within the castle! Your eminence – our chapel, ring OUR alarm bell and pray your best prayers! Satan's bollocks, how long? Try to tell me, man!"

The wounded man fluttered his eyelids.

"By nightfall" he said and lost consciousness again.

Annis was there then, directing a couple of men to bring her patient within, sending Kai to fetch herbs, boiling water and her knives.

"Is it his lung?" asked Voltan harshly.

"I think not" said Annis "His breathing is laboured from effort but there is not that crepitant rattle of a wounded lung….by the angle it is in his kidney, cruelly painful. It may recover; else I shall have to cut out the whole damaged kidney in the future as I have never done before. For now, I'll clean all up and sew him together and pray for God's good aid in healing."

Voltan nodded.

An anyone heal the man Annis would; Voltan suspected that his tiny, dainty wife was an unconscious magic-wielder that the wounds she dressed seemed to heal so well and quickly; though he had never said anything lest knowing rob her of any powers she had. He was in good hands.

The bell in the chapel rang – a newly acquired bell that some of Voltan's men had looted unashamedly from an abandoned village – and shortly after the bell of the village church rang too in harmony with it; and the villagers were soon trooping within, such as were currently living without and doing the rebuilding.

"Lord, be they coming to destroy so soon after we be built?" asked Tammas in dismay. It had not been so long ago that none of the peasants would have dared ask any question of their grim faced lord.

"Not an I can manage it" said Voltan grimly "HAWK! We ride out and ambush them!"

"Are you mad?" demanded Hawk.

"Yes" said Voltan "More than likely. But don't you see? The tactics we accept are always to make a strong point to resist the northmen; we react to them. THEY are the ones who choose when and where to make conflict. Time to change that; time to put THEM on the defence!"

Hawk stared; then gave a savage grin.

"Mad you may be; but you're also right, my brother" he said "Foregrim can defend well enough; we'll take a warband out to the blasted heath and use the gorse."

"Just like when we were boys!" laughed Voltan; and the brothers touched fists together in an old, almost forgotten gesture; and for a moment they were seven and seventeen again.

The men had assembled to the castle bell – Cordo having found himself obediently following orders to ring it – and Voltan barked,

"Company, some of us be riding out; and I pray the rest of you shall end up disappointed in having no foe to attack. I'll have Elissa's company and Ralph's company and the other three companies must kick your heels and arm the peasants against our defeat. Ralph, ride under my banner; Elissa under Hawk's. Annis, do you come or stay?"

"I come; Kai stays" said Annis "I can do no more for Gregor who must live and die at God's will, though I have taken out the arrow as was in and through his side that needed less cutting than I feared; and methinks with my skill he will live. Kai be equal to caring for him. I'll be needed an any get wounded on this little jaunt of yours."

The men laughed at her description of their sally.

Voltan nodded.

"Reveal yourself and yield an you be hard pressed" he said "For our child's sake. Foregrim will organise a ransom an Hawk or I not be available to do so."

Annis nodded.

"At your command, My Lord" she said.

"Very well; we ride in half an hour; the companies staying at home to prepare our horses that we have time to arm and armour. GO!" cried Voltan.

Lukat was scared and almost tearful as he handed armour to Voltan.

"I s'pose you won't take me?" he asked wistfully.

"You suppose correctly" said Voltan grimly "I'll have Florian along; to watch ONLY, boy, for art a liability otherwise; and to ride message."

"THANK you My Lord!" said Florian.

"As with Annis, an any come near you and try to engage you, reveal who you are and demand to be ransomed" said Voltan "And if I catch you in battle I'll thrash you so hard you'll eat standing for a month" he added threateningly.

Florian believed him; and nodded obediently.

He ruefully accepted that he was no match even for Jehanne, let alone any grown man as yet.

They were galloping away from the castle when Hawk turned casually to the figure at his right hand to see who rode beside him; and recognised Jehanne. He gave an exclamation.

"Jehanne! You should not be here!"

"Yes I should. I am your page. And besides, no-one forbade me" said Jehanne.

"You learned THAT reasoning from Annis" said Hawk, grimly, unable to contradict her. He had not forbidden her because it never occurred to him that a girl barely more than a child would come; and presumably Voltan had not forbidden her because – well, really, he had no right in some ways to forbid another man's page – and because he knew Annis at a like age would have probably disobeyed him anyway and decided not to risk having his authority brooked.

Hawk sighed.

They reached the blasted heath ere long; it was an hour's ride from the castle, and reached quicker than of yore for the use of the bridge Voltan had put over the river where it fed into the marsh. The bridge lifted like a drawbridge and was guarded by a tower that held the lifting windlasses, a wooden gatehouse in effect that was an excellent watchtower too on river traffic. After they had crossed it, the bridge had been raised against emergency, for Voltan had so ordered it.

"If we have to flee we will take to the marshes" he said harshly "Our fensmen know them like the backs of their hands and have built secret causeways in them that only they know. We shall lead any pursuers into the trap of that treacherous ground. Be READY to lower it lest we ride at speed for your good aid; but hold it raised."

The half dozen men who guarded the bridge had nodded solemnly. They trusted Voltan to keep his people safe; and did not seriously expect their warlord to have to flee and use the bridge to keep himself and his men from harm; Voltan was not a man one associated with fleeing!

Voltan knew better, that sometimes a strategic retreat was in order to carry the day in the long run, but he hoped not to have to do so until his men had a few good victories to their credit.

Voltan's scouts had long since covered the land to the north and he had drawn up fairly accurate maps from their information; Hugh had been one he had sent to use his education to survey and measure. There were a limited number of ways hordes from the north might be likely to come. Voltan planned more watchtowers; and the damming of a river to provide a deluge on one of the routes, that made use of a ford. That however was not anticipated until the future. The blasted heath however provided a good gallop on its short, springy turf; and galloping was something the northern barbarians loved to do.

"I hope you have that excellent archer with you, Voltan, the one that put the arrow between my feet" said Hawk "It's times like this I miss Crow, for he returned to the forest once he was healed."

"I regret that too; he is a phenomenon" said Voltan. "I wonder an it be any good to petition him to make peace; and retain him as a scout and for harrying the enemy in wooded areas with his own band to train from youths that he get the best from them" he sighed "But I must not plan for what is not. Yes, I have Kroll with me; he don't look much, for he's almost as beautiful and petite as Gort; but he's good."

The big archer, in earshot, grinned; and Gort laughed.

Kroll and Gort had measured a few lengths each in the dirt from wrestling to get each other's measure; and the archer had every respect for Gort's sheer strength, though he had been able to use a few techniques as taught by Voltan to be sure he had not lost every time!

And Kroll knew that he would make the best showing this day for his skill was as a premium.

"Ar, Lord Hawk, I can have six arrers in th'air at onct, all aimed too" he said proudly "And I can hit a man's face at half a mile and his body at a mile."

"Impressive" said Hawk.

"The more when you realise it be like still to have a fatal strength at that distance" said Voltan "Kroll pulls something over two hundred pounds; I've never cared to check precisely. I can barely even pull his bow half back; and I am not accounted any physical weakling."

"Yes; I recall your own bow was barely short of two hundred" said Hawk "When you troubled with longbow not crossbow."

"Losing an eye made long range shooting uncertain" shrugged Voltan "And so I moved to crossbow. I think I might start training again to longbow; my muscles are weakened, but at least they have been trained once. I too used to be able to kill a man at a mile once."

"And you will again" said Hawk.

They reached the heath and encamped in gorse fortresses; cutting into hollow gorse thickets and making more than one entrance so as not to be trapped within.

"Though an they decided to burn us out they must needs then stop to kindle fire" said Annis "At least they will not carry torches as they might for a night attack."

Annis was one of those who had a repeating crossbow as made by Ranulf; as had Elissa and a couple of the other men whose aim was steadiest.

Voltan arranged his archers first, the other troops to use, and then discard two crossbows each.

"Arrows and quarrels first to soften and disrupt them; then form into a single squad of a square with your spears set as we have practised; that whatever side they come upon they may be met by your sturdy resistance" said Voltan "And that square to protect our best archers, Kroll and Ranulf, Barath with longbow and Poll with his own repeating crossbow and the Lady Annis' too, Ranulf taking Elissa's. Florian and Jehanne, shalt too be in the centre of the square, reloading each repeating crossbow as the crossbowmen empty each one. Hawk, Annis, Gort, Elissa, Ralph and I shall skirmish with swords as be our best skills we being the best and most adaptable in such case; Ranulf, art officer of the square."

"Foot and horse combined" nodded Hawk "And using their own tactics against them, methinks an you plan that we harry and slash at their flanks."

Voltan shook his head.

"Later yes; but not at first" he said "We have tactics they know not, or use not; that of the church knights. They will stop to break our square of spearmen. They have no choice by the way they operate; for though their best tactic were to go round our meagre force yet they will be unable to bear to leave our spearmen in their rear, for often after a raid they ride fast for home and want not to be held up by skirmish as they do such. We wait for them to commit to charge the square; for our men WILL hold firm" he nodded to his men "As I place trust in them to do."

"And he'll hang the first man to break too" said a voice within the company.

"I will execute such, an he survives; for dereliction of duty and risking his comrades" said Voltan "And he shall be stoned by those survivors he put at risk by his actions" and he was gratified to hear murmurs of assent; that the men took that as fair. He went on "Those of us on horseback will have one free charge, as I said, after the manner of the church knights in a wedge against their flank; to break up their charge and kill those we separate in detail, that however many there be we shall charge to take off about twice our numbers. Hawk, you and I shall lead at the apex of the charge and will take the brunt of the fighting. But unlike church knights who can but fight as a body, we may then break and skirmish to deal with our foe; and we shall let Gort have plenty to play with as he be so big"

There was laughter from the troops; Hawk nodded.

Voltan was the cleverest warrior he knew; this arranging of his foot soldiers into squares of spears was innovative and brilliant, and made a more effective use of them, for few of them could be said to be horsemen, though of course they could ride well enough to reach a destination as most men could. And that too was a measure of the genius of Voltan; most commanders with enough horse to mount his men would try to turn them into mounted troops, believing that mounted troops were superior to foot soldiers; as was not necessarily so. Hawk was fairly certain no horse could be persuaded to run against a square two men deep and bristling with spears like a fence of sharpened stakes.

The barbarians were not themselves averse to fighting on foot if they had to, though they preferred to fight mounted.

"We must not give them the opportunity to dismount" called Hawk "They are taller than we – well, most of us" he added grinning at Gort and Kroll "And their height and weight then against us, and a better angle for them to try to lop down the spears, even though they be well protected with those strips of iron several feet up the shaft from the head.."

"An it please you, Voltan, I'll charge and fight on foot" grunted Gort "I slow down a horse and for short dashes my legs be long enough to keep up. I be better on foot."

"Make the charge horseback; that it have more moral effect on them" said Voltan "And be dismounting as we hit; art strong enough not to fall with the shock. Your horse is strong; he will cope."

Gort considered; and nodded.

Voltan was pleased that the giant was ready to take his suggestions; for he was not strictly one of his men, but a friend of Hawk's fighting beside them.

The warlord covered Annis' hand with his as they sat there, waiting; and she smiled at him.

The men gave their lord and lady a ragged cheer and Voltan grinned.

"And now my lads" he "I fear we can do nothing but wait. But we wait not for the attack of an enemy we hope merely to repulse; we wait to do our own attacking and instead to CRUSH this impudent marauding band!"

This got even more of a cheer.

Voltan nodded, grimly satisfied. It were well to win the war of morale before worrying about the actual fighting. Morale was all.

"What if it be not a war band but a whole horde?" asked Hawk, quietly, so only his brother and Annis might hear.

"Then we're dead" said Voltan "And pray that Florian and Jehanne get back to give word to our people; and that we delay and damage the horde long enough that they do so. But methinks this is but a raiding party – especially as it be winter still – to test our readiness and defences and to steal grain an THEY have had a hard winter that they run short. If I be wrong….well, for what it be worth, there's nobody's company I'd rather die in than yours, brother."

Hawk grasped his brother's wrist in a strong, brotherly handshake; words were superfluous.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

They heard and felt the thunder of the hooves of the warband before they saw them, ringing on the cold turf.

"About an hundred" estimated Hawk.

"Pass that round, Jehanne" said Voltan "We can wipe them all out. Then stand by to take thy sister's crossbow to Poll, and Florian to take Elissa's to Ranulf."

Jehanne darted away, up and down the concealed troops, who would all fire once each on two crossbows ere the spearmen took up position; the hail of fire giving them time to make the manoeuvre. Not all were expected to connect; but they would cause confusion and would panic the horsemen, especially as those who were less skilled had orders to shoot low to hit the larger targets of the horses anyway.

The northern raiders galloped confidently across the heath as they had done countless times in the past to carry off supplies and harry the southern defenders; and to steal the odd woman or children to raise as slaves. They were certainly not expecting to ride into a hail of fire heralded by the winding of a horn.

The front riders who were still alive and mounted fought to control their steeds that, many of them, reared and tossed their heads in panic; especially those that were suddenly riderless that were a risk to those still mounted for pawing at the air and being suddenly uncontrolled; and those that rolled on the ground in the agony of wounds, or even fell dead before the very hooves of others, their riders at risk of the plunging hooves of others behind them. Confusion briefly reigned.

The chief's son who led the raid fought to regain control not only of his own spirited beast but of his men; and by the time he had done so and looked for the threat he saw in front of them a pathetically short line of men with spears that had emerged from the gorse and formed up as the barbarians fought for control of themselves.

The chief's son laughed.

"We are fools to fear so few, as have fired and make a last ditch stand!" he called "Charge them; I wager they'll soon scatter, lads!" he added gaily "If they don't, why then we just split and go each side around them!"

They were committed to the charge as the second horn note winded.

And out of the gorse came a wedge of horsemen in tight formation, cloaks billowing behind them like banners, led by a black armoured figure on a big black horse; and at his elbow a smaller, slighter figure with a sword whose pommel glowed with a supernatural light. Only those nearer the back of the charge saw this; for the chief's son and his closest retainers had passed too far forward.

And then the wedge was upon the horsemen; trained heavy warhorses crashing through the loose charge of the barbarians, the northern horses whinnying and shying from body contact with the big destriers.

Unlike normal heavy cavalry though, Voltan's band turned almost immediately and were hacking and slashing with brutal finesse, Gort alone dismounted but at his height on a level with the mounted attackers.

The front horses of the barbarian warband still charged the square, almost unaware of what was going on; hearing something of the fray behind them but uncertain of details.

The men of the square were chanting something.

Hawk heard too and grinned; the men were chanting

"VOL-tan, VOL-tan, VOL-tan!"

As Voltan had learned to discipline his own temper and love himself so too had his men learned discipline and learned to love their lord.

And Hawk too loved his brother with a fierce love the better for being regained; and he grinned in exultation that his brother's plan was working. He, Hawk, was perhaps now the better individual swordsman; it were a moot point. But Voltan was unquestionably the better leader now he was awake from the fogging lethargy of pain, the indisputable master of tactics and strategy, and Hawk, who had good small unit tactics skills, acknowledged his brother's mastery; admired; and learned.

The magical sword made short work of the enemy; as did Gort's big warhammer; and Voltan's long black blade accounted for yet more. Annis was lethal pale fire darting in and out with her fast blade wielded with delicacy and accuracy; and Gort stood as surreptitiously as he might manage at her side defending her from any that might wound the exquisite little lady he so admired.

The charging barbarians reached the wall of spearmen and split as they saw that the wall was not about to scatter – their young leader generously calling his congratulations on the courage of the spearmen – and swung round the side where they expected to find the spearmen vulnerable.

And there they found more spearmen.

The horsemen galloped around the square, bemused by this unknown tactic; and Ranulf, Kroll, Barath and Poll fired.

The chief's son retired, regrouped; and realised he had lost between a third and a half of his forces that were now engaged in mêlée with mounted men.

He sighed in impatience; but there were far more of his men back there than there were of the enemy, they must finish up that gallant but hopeless band of horsemen and rejoin him as they might; meanwhile he would use the troops he had to break this odd square formation.

"We'll charge each of the faces in turn" he said "Until one breaks and we get inside them. "They'll have put their least steady men on the face that faces away from the direction we came from."

He little thought that Voltan had already thought of that and made sure it was no such thing; that it was the front rank of the spearmen that were the steadiest.

The praise for their steadiness that their lord expected and the threat to give any who wavered to be punished by their fellows firmed all the spearmen. Voltan had assured them in practise that if they held, they could not be broken; and the breaking of the charge had been the first indication of that and heartened the men.

The barbarians charged each face of the square in turn; and each time it held, and each time the chief's son lost men to the steady accurate fire of the bowmen within the square.

"Circle them, and fire shortbows into them!" ordered the chief's son.

The barbarians rode round and round the square firing; and that rattled the spearmen more than the charge.

"Hold firm!" shouted Jehanne "If you break ALL will die! Raise your shields over your heads; they fire down! Annis will see to wounds later!"

"Good call" said Ranulf laconically as the spearmen raised their light wicker shields they had as part of their defenses and showed why they had such shields, for the wicker stopped the light arrows very effectively. "You're a better leader than me, lass; I be glad you be here" the archer added.

Jehanne flushed with pleasure; but there was no time for that, for she saw an archer among the enemy concentrate and aim on the centre of the square; and suddenly knew that the arrow was aimed at the highest point, Kroll's back.

"DOWN KROLL!" she shouted, reaching up to push his shoulder for emphasis.

The arrow had been loosed; and it buried itself in her forearm and she cried out, Kroll grunting as the head went right through to scratch his neck, above the light armour he wore.

He turned.

"Little miss!" he cried.

"Keep – keep shooting them" said Jehanne "Florian, no, never mind me" as the boy dropped to one knee beside her "Keep loading for Ranulf and Poll; I can't" she felt sick "I hope Hawk is all right" she muttered and passed out.

The barbarian chief's son was not having a good day.

He had lost about a fifth of his men to the initial volley of arrows; probably not all dead, but unable to fight. The mounted troops had cut down at least as many more; and the archers of the square had accounted for about half what was left.

Had he been more experienced he might at this point have called a parley and asked to withdraw with his wounded and learned from sore defeat for another time.

He was however young, and rash; and as arrogant as Voltan's dead adopted son Drogo in wanting to prove himself.

And so he made the mistake of calling on his men to charge the mounted group.

This gave the square a free attack upon his rear and flank; and the spear melted into an attacking wedge, going on the offensive, spearing horses and men indiscriminately from behind.

Voltan had ordered the reloading of crossbows in his group after they had defeated their portion of the foe; Elissa and Annis each holding single shot crossbows. The chief's son was one of the first to fall as Voltan and his disciplined little group held firm and fired before going for sword.

And before they knew where they were it was all over.

The erstwhile battlefield was a morass of mayhem; riderless horses galloping willy nilly; wounded horses screaming; wounded men groaning.

Annis held down her gorge; there was no time to be ill over the gross realities of battle and she should thank God that the mess and carnage was, thanks to Voltan's planning, largely made up of the broken remnants of the attackers, and but a few of their men. And she had healing to do. She fetched forth her chest of salves that had come on a sumpter pony purposely left well away from the fray for this purpose. She checked quickly that her husband was unhurt, and her brother in law too and the command group.

Voltan had a cut to his cheekbone but it did not look serious; it might need a stitch, but it would keep. Hawk was nursing a wrenched shoulder where one had body-barged him; he was not pale enough from the pain for Annis to believe it dislocated and even so, that could wait. Elissa had dropped out of combat for receiving a blow to the helm that had deprived her temporarily of her wits – Hawk having defended her and slapped her horse on the rump that it take her away – and Ralph had a cut on his left arm that was spurting rather a lot of blood. Annis moved towards him.

"Gort, please collect the wounded barbarians" said Annis "I'll not leave them untreated. Be careful they don't think you mean to loot, that they stab you" she added.

Gort nodded and went in search of wounded enemy, pleased at Lady Annis' compassion – and her sensible adjuration to take care.

Annis put a swift stitch in Ralph for she knew such a would might lead a man to bleed to death if left; and bandaged the wound tightly. She might loosen it later that he not lose the arm for too much blood being prevented getting to it; for now stopping the bleeding was a priority. He had staunched it with his neckerchief but Annis did not like his colour.

She sorted swiftly through the wounded and arranged them into three kinds; those her skills could not save, those who needed immediate care and those whose wounds were relatively minor and could await treatment until later.

Jehanne went into the last group.

"Yours will wait, brave little sister" said Annis, giving the younger girl a brief kiss.

Jehanne nodded.

She knew she would not die of her wound so long as it was treated this day sometime; and concentrated on repeating her lessons to herself to have something complex like Latin to dwell upon instead of the pain.

The first group, Annis told Florian to brew water to add a powder to that she gave him. It was but a soporific and pain reliever; that their deaths might be easier.

Ralph she had seen to and told him to get back in the queue for further attention. Another man would lose his eye for the arrow in it; but he would live because Annis packed the ruined eye with honey and thyme and comfrey and bound it with clean linen.

"We be main lucky, lady" said Ralph soberly "That make me even sorrier I handled you rough at first; for most o' these wounded 'd die in most men's armies; aye even regular armies, not mercenary alone."

"I can't save all" said Annis regretfully "To the best of my knowledge all stomach wounds greater than a certain depth are fatal; for I cannot sew up internal organs, for the thread would rot within and poison a man. Seff here has been main lucky, an arrow went in his belly and passed out the side, and I have every reason to believe it missed anything vital, for I small no digesting food at the wound nor yet urine so his gut and his bladder be undamaged. I'm putting a small stitch in here after cleaning the wound; and he have passed out because the thyme that cleans it stings like the very devil as you know; and the pain were too much for him to stay conscious. Dobb with the pierced lung I hope to save; but I must keep the actual wound in his chest open, for even if the lung heal, as I hope it may for it is but barely pierced, the air that have escaped into his chest will cause him unbearable pain. I'll be setting a well boiled tube of elder stem, well plugged, into the wound that I have held open with a linen plug until we get home, when I judge the lung to be healed I can take out the plug and expel the air from his chest and then let the wound heal. It will be a horrid scar but he may live. It be the best I can think of; and I'll send one to ride to the nunnery to ask an they have any better idea."

Ralph nodded.

"I'll explain all that to Dobb when he be a bit more sensible" he said.

Hawk appeared at Annis' side.

"Annis, Jehanne is wounded!" he said, anguish in his voice.

"I know" said Annis "I've seen her. She's in no danger. I have worse wounds to see to with men in worse pain and who may die an I do NOT see them first."

"But she's your SISTER!" said Hawk.

"The more reason that she should wait. I'd not touch Voltan with a similar wound an his men needed me more; and that he knows as does Jehanne."

"And quite right" Voltan's voice cut in "The healer has no husband and no sister; only patients."

"By God, you two can be cold blooded at times!" cried Hawk.

"Cold blooded? Over healing? No Hawk, you are wrong" said Annis "It is that I love and care for all our people and weep for any and all that I lose" her voice was tired. "Five I cannot heal; three we lost outright. Eight men who are people to me, not mere names. I can save a further ten an I not waste time on light wounds that can wait. Tending Jehanne would take the time that would kill two of these men I tend now. Which of these will you choose that I kill to make your page more comfortable?"

Hawk flushed.

"I am sorry; I did not realise that was what it meant."

"It is. Now I have a wound to stitch that is bleeding too much not to need it on Tolly here; canst tend to Jehanne yourself by taking out the arrow and pack the wound with thyme and honey. An she need it I'll stitch it later. An you have not the confidence to hurt her by doing such, leave her until I have time but get out of my way in the meantime I beg you."

Hawk stared; then nodded.

"I apologise" he said "To you and to those who need you most. I know enough to tend some minor wounds; I'll make myself useful."

"He's a good boy but doesn't always think things through; too much praying" murmured Annis.

Once their own men were seen to, Annis turned her attention to the wounded barbarians.

"Some killed themselves thinking we meant them harm" said Gort "And some had hidden. I had to persuade them to come."

Tragic as it was that some preferred to kill themselves rather than fall into enemy hands – which Annis thought might say a lot about how they would treat their own prisoners – she grinned at Gort's description; his persuation had probably not been subtle.

Many of the wounded she could not save; one had died since Gort had brought him over.

She dressed the wounds of those she could save; only four.

"You" she said to one who was but lightly wounded, having been knocked unconscious and so had missed most of what had happened "Watch this man; he like you have a head wound but he is still silly from it and will need your own healer's aid. Should he make strange snoring noises or fall into lethargy he be at risk and you must keep him from sleeping though he must rest."

The man nodded.

"Why do you treat us?" he asked.

"Because you be God's children too; and we are civilised folk" said Annis.

The youth marvelled; and marvelled too that Annis treated, and seemed to think likely to survive, those whose wounds he would expect to bring death in delirium.

"If your God can heal HIM" he pointed to a man who had an arrow in his cheek that Annis had needed to cut out "Then I swear I will worship Him."

"It is my knowledge that will heal him and your use daily of the salve I shall give you; but I believe the talent I have comes from God" said Annis "Praying won't hurt."

"How do I pray to your God?"

"Just call on him and ask" said Annis simply "He need no ritual or sacrifice; just honesty."

She had cleaned the wound well and packed it with thyme, comfrey and honey and passed a small jar of the salve to the lad.

"Smear this salve on all wounds daily; and cover again with clean linen. Use new cloth an you have it; else rinse the dressings I have put on. In boiling water if you can, or rub it well in cold water if you cannot light a fire to boil water."

He nodded.

"You will then just let us go?"

"You will return to your people; and tell them that Voltan the Warlord and his brother Lord Hawk permit no more encroachment and will in time come to take back what is theirs" said Annis.

"Who are you that speaks for them, and dares come, a woman, into battle?" cried the youth.

"I am Voltan's wife; and I gave you that gash on your arm ere Gort tapped you on the head" said Annis. "And had he not knocked you off your horse in so doing, I might have killed you."

"Thor's anger!" swore the youth "You fight like a veteran! And you are but a slip of a girl!"

Annis smiled grimly.

She would not reveal that, unless one counted the slavers – which she did not – this was her first battle. It was merely that Voltan's training style was so intense that it were almost as serious as real battle! Already Ranulf had commented after this battle that Voltan's drills were bloodless battles and his battles bloody drills; and it seemed to work.

"Many of your wounded will die" said Annis honestly "I cannot save those with belly wounds nor deep lung wounds. I can give them drugs to ease the pain that they die more easily; they may lie with our dying thus."

"No lady; if you permit it I will put sword in their hands and kill them quickly as is our custom" said the youth.

Annis shrugged.

"Very well" she said.

It was quickly done; those wounded mortally received sword from their compatriot with wordless understanding and brandished the sword as well as they were able as he made quick, clean deaths for them.

"And not so bad a way to go at that" muttered one of Voltan's men.

"Then ask an any of our mortally wounded wish it" said Annis to him.

"Lady I – I do not" groaned one "But I s would – would like to hear you sing to us lady, hymns of comfort and songs we have all sung."

Some two of the five elected a quick death; and Annis sang for the others, tears standing in her eyes as she gave the dying men the best gift of comfort that she could; and some of the men joined in those songs and hymns they knew.

Others were going around performing mercy killings on wounded horses; and catching loose horses as spoils of war. And by the time they had caught all the loose horses, retrieved equipment and put such horses as needed to be out of their misery, and all had been tended, that Annis might do as she sang, including Jehanne and a quick stitch to Voltan's cheek, the mortally wounded had quietly succumbed to death or at least lapsed into blessed unconsciousness.

Alive or dead, as with those killed outright, they would take them home.

But fifty had routed twice their number; and of the hundred barbarian attackers, four wounded survivors rode home to bear the news that Voltan was a terrible and fearsome foe and that he was too dangerous to cross.

"And we STILL build watchtowers too" grunted Voltan.

"Brother" said Hawk, excited, "Do you recall we made a simple code of set meanings that could be signalled by a simple kerchief and whether it were tied by its corner or along its side to a pole or branch and whether it were in the centre, left or right changed the meaning?"

"Aye; it were simple but enough for boys. You suggest a code of flags?" said Voltan.

"Aye" said Hawk "And different colours too that make up sentences by being portions thereof."

"Not easy to see colours in dawn's grey light" said Voltan "Better perchance to have a board with shutters that open and close in patterns; that at night might have lanterns behind them."

It was yet another thing to do; but the brothers knew that together they could achieve much; that as a pair they were stronger than even the total of their individual efforts!

And the idea was what was important, the idea that messages might be sent without messengers having to ride between stations, that not only meant that men must be allocated to each station as messengers but that it would take time from furthest posts to the castle. A means of signalling could reduce the time of sending messages even if the message was very simplistic.

And the men would learn to use such; more readily now that Voltan's innovation of the spear square had been proven as good tactics. His men all knew that had they not held all would have died; and that had they been quicker to get their shields up, some that died might still have been alive.

It was incentive to train harder and to be even more alert to Voltan's words.

Voltan was their invincible lord, their talisman in battle.

And Annis was a talisman of another kind, their gentle healer whose arts saved those, whatever their rank, that most healers would give up for dead unless they were of high estate.

And now Hawk and his blazing sword was becoming a talisman too; their Lord's beloved brother, one to whom they would turn if their leader fell.

Though if truth be told they would probably be more likely to expect Annis to lead them before they turned to Hawk; which Hawk suspected and Annis had no idea about.

She merely regretted that there was no way to save some of the men who had survived the battle; and she wept for them quietly on the way home.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Voltan's war band returned with depleted numbers; but they had lost only eight out of the forty seven that had ridden forth; and all the men knew that but for Annis' skill more than twice that number would have died; and still considered it a good price to pay for a total defeat, indeed a massacre, of a warband of an hundred. In the poor conditions of many an army camp, with few healers for the rank and file, the likelihood would have been that anyone wounded would have been at risk of death through infection, even minor wounds little more than scratches if the recipients were unlucky. And of those with any wound, not all would have expected a full recovery, even if they survived dirt and disease. Tolly would not regain his eye of course; it had been torn by the arrow that lodged in it; but he might expect to fight again with only some impairment. Ralph marvelled that the cut to his arm would heal fully if he exercised it according to Annis' strict regimen, rather than be forever weak; and pointed out loudly to any who would listen that in any other army he would likely have lost the arm an he were lucky enough not to lose his life.

Voltan made his first stop when they returned a visit to Alessandro Cordo.

"I would you will join us and perhaps say a few words as Father Michael says a mass for the souls of those we have lost" he said bluntly "A little spiritual guidance from a straightforward man that know how many beans makes five does not go amiss; the men would be grateful for your attendance."

"How many did you lose?" asked Cordo.

"Eight; Annis regrets the five that she knew not enough to heal, though I have not heard that any has ever been successful in healing belly wounds" said Voltan "Once an arrow pierces deeply enough it is inevitable; I must see if I can devise an armour that protects against arrows better."

"Eight? I heard one of your men saying that the warband that rode against you was an hundred men! Did he then exaggerate?"

"No Father Alessandro; but we had good plan and my men are disciplined and steady and behaved themselves in exemplary fashion" said Voltan.

"And you, My Lord Voltan are a very genius of military matters!" cried Cordo in respect. "I will certainly come to your Mass; and I should be glad to officiate as Father Michael's assistant an he will permit it."

"I should think he'd be very pleased" said Voltan.

"I think" said Cordo "That one of the things I like about you is that you assume that Father Michael, the men's priest, will officiate; and that I will take subordinate position to the one who knew them, rather than trying to curry favour by asking me to officiate. I approve."

Voltan grinned.

"Just as well; for an you were a cock-lofty fool that must needs find more arrogance than humility I'd not have invited you to come" he said.

It was a simple moving service in which Father Michael reminded those attending that the men who had died had done so that others might live; for had the barbarians not been stopped short, doubtless others would have died. He also said prayers for the man Dobb, whose survival still hung in the balance. Hawk had personally ridden to the nunnery and had returned with the suggestion that Annis cut through a rib or two to sew up the lung, and hold the wound open with a sheet of gold that she might take the stitches out in a few days; and that a foil of gold over the wound in the lung would not come amiss either.

Annis set the armourer to hammering coins into foil; sedated Dobb with poppy juice and went ahead, using the smith's tools to crack a couple of ribs to get to the wound.

"I doubt he'll ever be fit again" she said to Voltan "But I'm more sanguine about his chances of survival now; letting the lung heal on its own was always dodgy, and from the size of the wound in it I'm glad to have sewn it. If he survives this operation and my removal of the stitches he'll have a good chance. But he must be in a rear line position and he may never fire a bow again."

"If he can train other archers he'll be worth his salt" said Voltan. "And I should find him some job to do anyway."

Dobb moaned that it hurt worse than before; and Ralph told him roughly that he should be glad to be alive for it to hurt rather than gently dying like he had been hitherto. Dobb subsided before his captain.

Jehanne was made much of by Hawk, because she was his page, and he was fond of her; by Kroll who was grateful to her that she had saved his life by her prompt action and selfless act; by Annis because she was her sister that the older girl was proud of for taking the wound so stoically; and by Voltan who was pleased that she had put their best archer above her own safety.

Jehanne basked in praise and was a modest enough child not to get a swollen head over it; and resumed her normal duties, taking too such duties as she might of fighting men for the sake of the wounded being unable, many of them, to resume full duties for a while yet.

Thus Jehanne carried a meal to Rollo de Clairvallet that were a job that would have been done by Dobb.

"You have hurt yourself, lad?" asked the cardinal, looking at her bandaged wrist.

"We had to repel an attack of northern barbarians; an arrow pierced my wrist, nothing serious" said Jehanne, airily, young enough to revel in the fact that her first battle wound had raised the respect of the men towards her.

Clairvallet crossed himself.

"Terrible monsters these barbarians be… is all danger past?" he demanded hurriedly.

"Oh YOU were never at risk" said Jehanne with some scorn in her tone at his obvious fear. "We killed most of them and sent the rest back licking their wounds like curs."

"Pert lad" said Clairvallet "Your pretty looks make you get away with much, methinks; though I were not, an I were you, think much of a lord who permitted his pretty and very young page to come close enough to battle to take wound."

"But then, you know not the circumstance, do you My Lord, that you cannot make accurate judgement on that?" said Jehanne. "My Lord took every effort to keep me safe, as did Lord Voltan."

"Come – tell me then" Clairvallet put an arm about her shoulders.

Jehanne squirmed slightly; she did not like it, but he was – possibly – a churchman; perchance he thought it right to put comforting arms about girls who had been hurt, without realising it was not actually in the least bit comforting.

She had literally not noticed him calling her 'lad' for she knew that everyone else knew who she was, and had forgotten that the cardinal did not know.

"Well for one thing, I was not invited on the sally" she said "But My Lord Hawk had not actually forbidden me for he assumed I should not go and I suspect, had I not been wounded, he would have put his belt across my backside when we returned" she added cheerfully.

Hawk, taking his turn as an educated man, who knew the forms of the church, at one of the spyholes, grinned; knowing that that comment was aimed at him for having told her off. Not but that she might have been right; he might well have chastised her for taking the risk at that!

"No! So cruel a lord – and such a pert little backside too!" said Clairvallet, patting it playfully.

"THAT, My Lord, is NOT a proper thing to do" said Jehanne severely.

"My dear boy! You are quite ravishing with those golden curls; any man would be hard put not to notice" said Clairvallet "Come; be sensible. Play some games with me and I can further your career far better than some no-hope brigand of a northern marcher baron!"

"No-hope? That marcher baron just happens to hold the upper hand on you, that you be lucky to hope for any furtherment of your OWN career; even an I were like to give in to your disgusting demands and betray mine own lord as I shall not!" said Jehanne crossly "OH! UNHAND me, you pig!" as Clairvallet grabbed her to force a kiss on her, fumbling for her trews.

Hawk burst in at this moment, having seen which way things were going; and floored the cardinal with a blow to the chin.

Clairvallet went down like a sack of turnips.

"Has he hurt you?" demanded Hawk, drawing Jehanne gently into his arms. She was white.

"He grabbed my wrists…. The wound bleeds again, see?" she held up her hand to show the blood-stained bandage "It – it hurt; and I was frightened…..Hawk…." she swayed.

Hawk dropped a light, reassuring kiss on her curls, sat her down and pushed her head between her knees and heaved the churchman up roughly by the front of the cope. Rollo de Clairvallet looked more rumpled than he had ever done in his life.

"And to think I thought a little girl would be safe where one of the lads would not be, you lascivious beast!" growled Hawk, sounding remarkably like his brother as Clairvallet shook a groggy head and endeavoured to regain his senses.

"G-GIRL?" Claivallet sat back hard as Hawk dropped him and sat on the floor fingering his jaw and looking foolish.

"What, you surely never took her for a boy? Art disgusting, whichever" said Hawk in scorn. "Come child; Annis shall see to where he have attacked your wound."

"Just one thing before we go, My Lord" said Jehanne "I had brought him food; let me give it to him" and she poured the bowl of piping hot pottage into the prelate's lap. He yowled.

Jehanne threw the loaf at him accurately, that he flinched as it hit his austere nose; and pelted him with the jointed marsh birds that were his portion.

"Eat off the floor like the swine you are!" she yelled.

Hawk watched appreciatively.

She did not feel so ill that a little payback was not more important than treatment; at least a frightening experience had not robbed Jehanne of her spirit!

The girl paused only to crown Clairvallet with the elmwood platter and went out with Hawk as the churchman lapsed back into a groggy stupor.

"Art almost as much a virago as Annis!" laughed Hawk.

"You don't disapprove?"

"No; the opposite. He had it coming to him" said Hawk grimly. "And even an he be genuine, I shall file a petition that he be unfrocked for attempting the rape of Lord Voltan's goodsister. Such will be easier than explaining that he thought you a boy. Raping anyone is a serious offence – especially for a supposedly celibate churchman – and raping a noblewoman held even more so, even an I cannot see that she suffer more than a peasant girl" he added cynically.

"But I'm not a noblewoman" protested Jehanne.

"Officially you are" said Hawk "Ah, Annis, the Prettier Prelate with peculiar predilections has tried to rape Jehanne and hurt her wrist; you may have to treat him for scalded cods from where she poured his pottage."

Annis exclaimed over the bloody bandage.

"He have plenty of cold water; let him treat himself" she said unsympathetically. "Sit, child; let me see….." she undid the dressing "No, he have not pulled the stitches right out but they are twisted all awry; methinks I had best take them out and resew."

"As if that weren't the worst bit" said Jehanne in resignation.

Annis was resetting stitches when a guard ran in.

"The cardinal down below is demanding a healer for burns" he said.

"Tell him to stick it in cold water; I'm busy tending the wounds HE caused my sister that she retaliated to his attack" said Annis coldly. "He's a churchman; if it drops off it won't matter, he should have no use for it and he can learn to pee squatting."

Though he winced, a glance at Jehanne's white face and bloodied arm had the guard pat the girl sympathetically on the shoulder; and give a savage grin and a wink to her.

"I'll be sure and repeat your words verbatim, lady Annis" he said. Their ruthless little lady was on top form!

The report of Annis' total lack of sympathy and the intelligence that Jehanne was the Lady's own sister did nothing to make Rollo de Clairvallet any happier; and when it went round the castle that he had tried to rape Annis' little sister the entire complement sought ways to make him more miserable yet.

And a couple of ingeneous fellows emptied nightsoil in his prison window having gone round by skiff, making sure their noisome mixture included some horse dung too!

Voltan summoned Cordo; or rather, requested his attendance. Cordo appreciated the courtesy of the difference.

"Your eminence" said the warlord "It is mine opinion that it is you who should be chancellor to King Casimir; since I was charged with the task of determining which of the two of you was genuine and which counterfeit. IF you be the counterfeit one, I should be glad to know for mine own satisfaction; but whether or no you are, I shall be sending you on to the capital shortly. I shall be hanging Clairvallet for the attempted rape of my goodsister."

Cordo blinked.

"He was bogus? Are you sure? I would not have guessed…..for I am to mine own knowledge and belief a genuine cardinal. And, My Lord, did I hear that aright? For I be somewhat confused. I should have said that if anything Rollo de Clairvallet had unlawful desires, even being charitable over whether he fulfilled them, for his secretary Hugh de Castel."

"He mistook Jehanne for a boy" said Voltan shortly "Her blonde curls I suppose being similar to those of the aforementioned Hugh; which fact do not concern me, only that he tried to harm her."

"He might claim benefit of clergy" suggested Cordo.

"He might; but an I hang him first he'll find it hard" said Voltan grimly "That he not use it to escape what he richly deserves. Besides, an you be genuine it is easier; that he be not entitled to benefit of clergy for then he is but a false cardinal, that mean he can be no kind of priest at all for surely no priest would commit the sacrilege of pretending to be a cardinal."

"Nice sophistry" said Cordo "You'll probably find" he added cynically "That he used to be a priest and was unfrocked for offences involving choir boys."

"More than likely" said Voltan "Care to sit in on my court as a representative of canon law?"

"Gladly My Lord" said Cordo "And glad that you have a trial even an it be like to be a foregone conclusion. I fear I am shocked; and I though myself beyond that. Rape! This is too much!"

"So too think I" growled Voltan.

oOoOo

Rollo de Clairvallet, confronted with the accusation, shook his austere head.

"Poor, disturbed child" he said "I fear the girl had fallen in love with me; a common phenomenon in a girl her age for a figure of authority such as a priest or other unreachable figure. I am sorry indeed that I hurt her wrist pushing her away; I had forgotten in, for one does not expect any lord to permit a dependant of tender years to be wounded in a battle. She flung herself on me you see; and when I refused her, she screamed, that brought Lord Hawk to us, who naturally sprang to erroneous conclusions. And then the girl threw my dinner at me; poor unfortunate, half mad girl."

Voltan smiled unpleasantly.

"Then we shall see if that story tallies with the evidence of the three men – one of whom is my brother Hawk – who watched you covertly through spyholes to see how soon you dropped the pose of being in orders" he said "So before you get on to benefit of clergy, I will tell you that I KNOW that you have lately skipped most of the daily offices save where you know yourself to be observed."

Clairvallet's beautiful face sagged; and as the three gave testimony one by one, outlining what had really happened, his world fell apart.

"I – I beg you, My Lord….." he gasped.

"Strip him to his shift" said Voltan "I'll not hang that contumelieous little bastard in the fine garb of a cardinal. Besides, it will make stains on the fabric even worse than pottage; and I award the fabrics of his cloth and the monies he concealed to Jehanne as compensation for her distress."

"Oooh….scarlet velvet!" murmured Jehanne.

"Vain brat" said Hawk.

"Don't you think I'll look nice in it? I never had any pretty things save the gown Annis have made for me since I came here, and I mostly wear breeches" said Jehanne.

"You'll look gorgeous" said Hawk. "But it be not seemly to gloat when he is to be hanged."

"I suppose not" said Jehanne.

The verdict was, in general, met with approval; though one man shouted out,

"Be you going to emasculate 'im like yew did with Barthol, Me Lord?"

Clairvallet passed out at that point.

Voltan located the speaker.

"No, Perce, I am not; as he did not succeed. And besides, the Lady Jehanne DID scald his cods with soup" the warlord said.

Those men who had not heard that looked on Jehanne with enhanced respect.

Those sisters were as hard as nails when they had to be!

Hanging Clairvallet was almost anticlimactic.

"I feel sorry for his secretary" said Annis to Cordo "An he be the blonde lover boy."

"Aye; but he were ready enough to touch up young Florian; methinks he'll soon find himself another protector" said Cordo "And will remind himself of the times Rollo was cruel of tongue to him. I just pray there will be no repercussions for this."

"We had carte blanche from the archbishop to do what we felt necessary" shrugged Annis "We see few enough cardinals this far north, most people think an archbishop outranks them anyway."

He laughed a wry laugh.

"Well I applaud the archbishop his clever and ruthless plan to test us. Though I found little to test or tax me; for I realised soon enough that Voltan be not the monster he be painted and therefore no man to fear an one were honest in one's dealings with him."

"I learned to love; and I found God" Voltan joined them and entered into the conversation "And I have changed mine outlook and repented my sins; those I count as sins. Hanging or crucifying upper churchmen is not necessarily one I count, even doing so to the genuine variety. Too many are venal or wicked in ways beyond what I could manage at my worst. I hope you may advise the king well; and I warn you he is a man who has given up hope of a strong kingdom that he pretend his court and its environs to be the extent of what he need worry about; that he can then ignore slavers and the barbarians of the north. He is too, I fear, a man who believes in the advice of the last man he heard."

"Ah" said Cordo "His son Florian?"

Voltan grinned

"Will prove a strong and able king in time; with good training" he said "And be at risk if any know where he is."

Cordo nodded.

"That I understand perfectly" he said "I will advise the king not to ask too closely. And I shall make sure I am the last person to have his ear ere he act."

"Good" said Voltan "We have then a chance this realm not be overrun by barbarians."

Cordo looked startled.

"Is it so likely?"

Voltan shrugged.

"You have seen the extent of my forces. I am the strongest, best prepared and most implacable of the northern barons in defending the north. Most have come to some financial arrangement, paying the barbarians to stay away. There is no law in the north save strength; and that runs from half a day's ride north of the capital. Slavers operate freely as do brigands. Hawk and I can make a difference – and even more so an we have the tacit support from the south. Without support from the church too we might be overrun. The hordes are countless. Do not underestimate the danger just because for years I have been the thing that scares the effete fools at court the most."

Cordo nodded.

"I hear your words; and I will remember them. You responded first to the barbarian raiders with a skill that argues a man who knows what he is talking about when it comes to the strategic position in the north; that is not lost on me though I be a man of peace where I might. I will protect Florian's secret – he seems a nice child and glad I am that he have the chance to be so. Unless I feel it may do more good to reassure his majesty that I have seen his son safe and well. I will also send reports to you, meant also for the boy, about what goes on in the capital an it be likely to affect you."

"Thank you, your eminence; that is comforting and generous of you after our rough handling of you."

Cordo laughed.

"I have never before heard of brigands and kidnappers who have pages; and whose pages carry pharmacopoeias that include indigestion remedies."

"I'd eaten at hostelries in the southern part of the north" said Voltan "So I warned Annis you might have both been made ill by what you had eaten. Up here, an mine host offer such he is like to be hanged out of hand."

"I'll bear that in mind to threaten others with" said Cordo "But even so, such consideration is unusual; and it started me wondering" he grinned "By the time Lukat and Sylvia greeted and swarmed up you I had no fears at all for my safety; I was but puzzled. Had I had any suspicions that Rollo was not as he seemed I might have worked it out. I got partially to the truth; for as Florian's identity dawned on me – he have at times an imperious manner – I thought perchance the king might have sent his son to a man whose reputation had been carefully and falsely cultivated to test which of us – as I supposed – candidates did best under pressure, and I wondered an I took a fair test since I felt myself under no pressure at all. But I reassured myself that I had used cool wit to work out such as Rollo might have done too."

"The archbishop told us to find a good chancellor" said Voltan "You are not so far out in your surmises. Had you been bogus I had still chosen you as the most credible. My brother and my wife agreed to this too. You are a GOOD man, your eminence; without being irritatingly pi. And you be a realistic man too. I look forward to improvements in the lawfulness of the realm with your sound advice to his majesty."

"I will advise him too" said Cordo dryly "That you acted under church instructions for his good service, else he may feel you should be punished for the kidnap."

"I doubt he'd dare, to be quite frank" said Voltan "But it would be nice to be an acknowledged nobleman of his marches."

"You will be" said Cordo "For I am much impressed by you; and I shall write too unto the Pope recommending that an it were he that excommunicated you that he should rescind it forthwith."

"My thanks" said Voltan.

Privately, he did not believe that excommunication by any priest, pope or no, counted at all; that it was God's decision an he gave up on a soul at all. But for temporal reasons it would be useful; and he appreciated the thought.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

After Alessandro Cordo had been seen on his way to the Abbey of the Crag, Voltan called for an escort to prepare and addressed Caspar and the children.

"The youngsters may as well learn where their mathematics be leading" he said "The leader of that war band was clad richly; and with much gold, as one might expect of a close relative of a chieftain; we dare not hope that the lesson we gave was good enough to prevent reprisals. When they come, they'll come in force; which means they will require a certain amount of time to prepare and that gives us time too. And because they will come in force there is only one credible route by which they will come. Via the ford. Twenty men abreast can cross it. As THAT is their bottleneck, THAT is where they are vulnerable. Come we ride out immediately."

The river to the north ran roughly from northeast to southwest. The ford was a place of laughing shallows over small gravel and pebbles in a variety of braided channels that could not make up its mind which was the main river. Downstream the channel of the river deepened as it flowed to the southwest where it became a deep, fast river, fed by several tributaries. Towards the northeast the river tumbled over several rapids before it reached the ford, crossable but risky, having fallen into that noisy and quarrelsome habit from whence it tumbled down bluffs of limestone in a cascading waterfall before it spread itself out in its more sprawling fordable shallows.

Voltan pointed to the top of the cascade.

"Up there the river runs deep and narrow in a gorge" he said "And we must needs finish the surveying of this region that I have already started. The change of contour here below is subtle and I would fain know how much the land rises and where it reaches its highest point; else our own men may be at risk too if all comes well."

"What are we going to do, then, My Lord?" asked Lukat.

"We are going to dam the river – that's stop the water with a wall, it's a different word to the curse" he added hurriedly and with some asperity as Sylvia looked shocked and puzzled "Water will build up behind the wall – especially as the spring floodwater melts from the mountains. We then have a LOT of water stored in the gorge. The difficult bit is to find a way to make the wall collapse in one go to let it flow out – drowning the men at the ford. The trick is to wait until a goodly number have crossed and so split the enemy army. I thought a wedge deep down in the wall, attached to pulleys should do the job; that an ass or men in a walking crane might move with good gearing."

Puzzled faces looked confused. Voltan sighed.

"What's a crane Voltan?" asked Sylvia.

"A wheel with steps on the inside of the rim may be walked on by men or animals, turning it; but instead of it going along the ground it turns to wind up a rope – like the windlass at the well" he explained "Save that it may lift more weight then an ordinary windlass."

"I can lift more than most cranes" said Gort, who was listening "Set up your pulleys for me and I will pull the wedge."

Voltan hesitated; then nodded.

"An you be certain you might do it" he said "There will be the weight of much stone on top, for the dam must be sturdy enough that we not lose it ere we want to."

"Let it run to a windlass with gears; that a normal man might not move but that will increase Gort's strength by the gears thereof" said Hawk "That it be easy for him."

Voltan nodded, relieved.

"A much simpler thing to have to build than a crane when time may press" he said "That would need gears in any case. My thanks, Gort."

"I be most proud of my strength and to be able to use it" said Gort "I don't understand gears nor how they may increase my strength; but I know Hawk understands many things, and so I do not have to."

"Lifting a rock beyond even your strength may be done by putting a bar beneath it" said Voltan "And for a bigger rock you need a longer bar. The principle of gears is much the same save that the lever is in terms of circular motion."

Gort nodded.

"That makes things clearer; without troubling me to understand details. My thanks, Voltan" he said.

They climbed the bluffs to examine the gorge; and Voltan showed them where there was something of a beach formed by the flood water when it periodically made the river wider and fiercer.

"We may cut rock and stand here to shift it" said the warlord "And for that we shall need a simple crane, but….."

"No we won't" laughed Gort "This is where I earn the good food you feed me without complaint, friend Voltan."

Voltan grinned. Gort had accepted him as a friend; that must surely please Hawk!

"Then" he said "I have better hopes of this working than I did before. Well want too a watch tower; and steady men in it, and simple towers with but one signal required as yet to say that the horde approaches. Methinks that a tall tower atop this bluff will give half a day's warning of their coming; and with fire or a red flag to warn we shall know back at the castle within an hour of that or less, all being equal. That we then may be here at much the same time as the trap is sprung, since this is nearly half a day's ride from the castle. Hawk, Gort; take the men and start building the dam; you know what I am thinking of by suggesting a wedge, do you not, brother?"

Hawk nodded.

"It could well enough be a wooden wedge since this not be planned for long term" he said "Just enough to ensure that its removal unbalances the wall enough for the weight of the water behind it to do the rest. Come on Gort; I know exactly what my brother wants!"

"Good job one of us does" grinned Gort "We shan't drown them all shall we?" he added anxiously.

"I'm afraid not" said Voltan.

"Good; only I'd hate to miss out on some fighting" said the giant.

"You'll get that a-plenty" said Voltan grimly "When they come, it isn't going to be a raiding party; but likely the full weight of a tribe, or several massed tribes. I speak of thousands."

"It might not be a bad idea too an I ask for some church knights to back us up" said Hawk quietly.

"What, to steal my foe?" laughed Gort.

"I suspect without help even you may find yourself sated, Gort" said Voltan "Thanks brother; methinks we'll likely need all you can muster."

On the plain, Voltan showed the children how to use a groma to level their measurements and to use it with a measuring stick and marked rope to determine the rise of land. Caspar kept notes and made a sketch map of the results.

Voltan nodded satisfaction.

"I rather thought that line of scrubby trees marked the extent of the flood plain" he said "Nice to be confirmed in that. If we stay behind them as the waters rage it should be safe."

"Will the waters get THAT far, My Lord?" asked Lukat, looking dubiously at the chuckling, benign ford where he and Sylvia had been surreptitiously playing in the shallows to the detriment of their boots.

"If we can collect enough up above, for a short while, possibly, yes" said Voltan "And it only need to be for a short while; a billow of foam to knock over horses and riders and at least scatter them. At best drown some of them. Such will demoralise the barbarians with superstitious awe – that the very river obeys me. Their pagan gods control natural phenomena remember, Thor the thunderer for example. They have no knowledge of engineering or mathematics; nor any real concept of making their surroundings conform to their will, being content instead to adapt themselves to their surroundings."

"Nice" said Annis "An we might play on that superstitious awe we might yet frighten them away, and into staying away."

"So too I hoped" said Voltan.

They stopped to eat, having brought provisions; and all did what they might to build the dam, working most of the afternoon.

"Gort, pick some four or five men from the escort and stay here, and build the start of a tower as well as finishing the dam" directed Voltan "Hawk must ride to find church knights; and the children need their rest. I'll have people out to set up watchtowers between here and the castle. Remember, barbarians ride in faster than any regular army. If one loses a shoe they leave him behind them. He misses out on the loot and the glory of battle – as they see it. They are warriors, not soldiers; their greatest wish is to die in battle and fight in Valhalla. It gives them certain advantages of mobility; but disadvantages of discipline. An we stick to plan and stand firm we always break them. This I affirm from long personal experience. I have been fighting the barbarians since I was younger than Jehanne."

The pages nodded solemnly, taking in Voltan's words.

Annis too nodded; for she still had much to learn.

"And if we hold, and make little noise, but follow a well-drilled plan, that too may fill them with superstitious dread" she said "That we not be as they understand men to be, but to be like a machine, and each man a cog."

"Exactly" said Voltan, pleased by her insights. He was dirty with stone dust and had a graze that had opened the cut on his cheek from lifting stone; and his grin was as boyish as Lukat's. And Annis loved him more than she could say.

"How long do we have, do you think, Voltan?" asked Hawk. He turned naturally to asking his brother's opinion for he knew that none were so knowledgeable as Voltan on the habits of the barbarians.

"I doubt they'll come before the flood water has descended; that could come in a week or so if it be on the early side, and no more than a fortnight. Such would make the ford harder to cross an they get caught at the time the mountain waters arrive; and such water is icy cold from being melted snow, such as is detrimental to their horses for giving them cramps in the legs. The barbarians do NOT risk their horses; they depend on them too much. Which being so I'd say we have about a month ere they come; between the floods and the onset of spring in earnest. They'll want there to have been enough fodder that our animals have started to fatten and there to have been young animals born that they can steal."

Hawk nodded.

"A fair assessment I'd say; and giving them time to provision too."

Voltan laughed a mirthless laugh.

"Oh they do not provision the way we provision" he said "They expect to live off the land. They carry basic supplies and loot for the rest. They do NOT get weighed down with baggage trains. Each man carries a small sack of meal to make pottage as his staple; and what they can find, shoot or steal adds to that."

Hawk shuddered.

"A fearsome force that can go anywhere readily" he said.

"Aye; but they MUST come to us as the nearest settlement to where they now live, since all between have been long since overrun and abandoned" said Voltan "For they have driven out civilised folk. An we can show them that the long ride to us is futile they must needs subsist on what they can raise with their smallholdings."

"What makes you think they will not in fact ride out straightway to avenge their fellows?" asked Hawk "And get here before we look for them?"

Voltan shrugged.

"I could be wrong" he said "Which is why I want that am in place quickly, as well as to catch the floodwater for a greater volume of water. But I THINK the chief will hesitate before being this side of the ford before the floods have swelled it; lest he have to retreat and the waters come at the wrong time. It is there way; charge, harry, destroy, retreat. Only by making those we permit to retreat be so few in numbers can we stop that pattern."

"Yes; if raiding us means that their main body of menfolk is depleted to a point that maintaining numbers to raid, then it becomes pointless, even for revenge, to spend any more of them" said Annis.

Hawk set out at first light next morning with Jehanne to request the aid of church knights; and Voltan took his best builders, soldier and peasant, to start setting up watch towers and help at the dam. And none of the peasants complained about forced labour because Voltan made it clear that such work would aid in their protection; that they worked with a will at his command.

Annis stayed in the castle.

Her pregnancy was advancing; and the fight with the warband had tired her, and, she admitted reluctantly to Voltan, scared her for her child's sake.

He kissed her tenderly and bade her use her excellent siegecraft to guard the castle instead.

"And hope my skills not be needed" said Annis dryly.

"A good soldier plans in advance for all contingencies" Voltan reminded her. "Who knows? Some of mine enemies in the south might return and hope to catch me napping!"

"Not that that is hardly likely" scoffed Annis "But until you returned to rout them, I should keep them occupied, methinks!"

"I wager you'd likely rout them without needing me!" said Voltan cheerfully.

She smiled and saw him off.

An it came to a serious siege that she was running, it would likely mean that Voltan had died fighting the marauders; and Annis did not want to dwell on that thought. For if enemies did come from the south, Voltan might slide back into the castle through the concealed watergate having used the hidden causeways submerged beneath the waters of the marshes and meres. He would not risk splitting his forces to two fronts but would leave the barbarians to come and waste energy fighting with any besieging force thinking them sallying troops.

She would be prepared for any eventuality; and would remain ready to be flexible as every good commander should.

oOoOo

Jehanne was happy.

Travelling with Hawk was a delightful experience, even though the day was overcast and the skies they rode under threatened rain or sleet.

"We'll go straight to the city of Ernbridge" said Hawk "It's the cathedral city of the archbishop; and his usual seat, though he retreats to the Abbey of the Crag when he may. Ernbridge is there to serve the church knights and little more; it has its society of ordinary citizens but their existence grew up and developed around the great martial monastery."

Whatever Hawk suggested was good to Jehanne; and she was proud to be his page.

The city was so far away they could not get there in one day's travel even at the pace Hawk set, travelling from dawn; and they must needs stay overnight on the way at an inn. Hawk ordered Jehanne to sleep in the chamber he was able to negotiate for himself.

"I would sleep in the common room and leave you in this only single an I thought you would be safe; but rough people come here. It is immodest, I am afraid, but you know at least you have nothing to fear at my hands" said Hawk.

Jehanne giggled.

"An older girl might cry shame on that" she said, twinkling at him.

"Pert brat" said Hawk, lazily tweaking her nose.

The bed at least was wide; and Hawk laid a bolster down the middle that each might get such rest as they might from the lumpy palliasse. Jehanne, tired from the hard riding for some nine hours of the day, was asleep as soon as she lay down and slept with the resolute steadfastness only the very young can achieve.

Hawk laughed, and took his rest too, lightly enough to wake at anything untoward, heavily enough to rest him, as a seasoned campaigner knows how to do.

They rode out as soon as they had broken fast and rode through a terrain strange to Jehanne, that there were many neat, well ordered villages on the roads, that not only had no stockades but were filled with peasants who showed no fear of strangers and indeed stopped work to stare at the two who rode with such precipitate haste. They could at least ride more smoothly, that made for more speed now; for the roads were good and well maintained, paved with good flagstones. Jehanne was beginning to find their precipitate haste distinctly painful; and moreover was hoping they might soon stop to eat since it was a long time since the adequate, but almost forgotten, viands of pottage, bread and fruit in the hostelry. Her stomach growled at the thought.

Hawk grinned at her.

"The city is just ahead my child; and when we're there we'll buy a pie to keep us going before we seek out the archbishop" he said.

Jehanne grinned back in gratitude and relief.

The city rose from the plain with towers and spires and was bigger than any settlement Jehanne could ever imagine. Thick walls encircled it for protection.

"Don't they have trouble manning those walls?" gasped Jehanne "However many people must be needed to make sure that a good watch is kept!"

"Oh hundreds I should think" shrugged Hawk. "The church knights and their foot have plenty of troops to do that and have enough over to lend us a few."

It seemed incredible to Jehanne that there should be enough people that so many might be found just to man defences!

By the time they reached the high walls she was quite subdued!

The guard on the gate they approached knew Hawk and saluted.

"My Lord Hawk! Is the rumour I have heard true – that Voltan has changed is ways?" he asked.

"It is indeed so" confirmed Hawk "and I have left my brother to come south, for he is in need of aid from the church troops against the barbarians; though his own troops might prevail he cannot guarantee to hold the horde he is anticipating."

"And you'll be fighting too, My Lord? There'll be plenty willing to follow you, to be properly led against those devils" said the man "And have a crack at them too at a place guaranteed that they may be forced to make a stand! Nice looking lad, by the way; not yours, surely?"

Hawk laughed and ruffled Jehanne's curls affectionately.

"Not mine, no; though a relative in a way. The Lady Annis, who is wed to my brother, has a selection of half siblings; and Voltan had more or less adopted a couple of them and this, the older, acts my page. I must say I have actually found a page useful from time to time so I be resigned to the troubles they also cause" he winked at Jehanne, who pulled a face at him. The guard laughed.

"I can see, young whelp, thou dost truly consider Lord Hawk as family for art a pert babe; but shouldst behave in more seemly fashion before others, lest thou shouldst diminish his consequence in the eyes of those as have not younger siblings!"

Jehanne flushed.

"I see; and thank you for the advice good sir" she said "Sorry Hawk – Lord Hawk!"

He tweaked a golden curl.

"I had not thought of it until it were pointed out; but I suppose that he be quite correct" he said "Shalt be circumspect, infant!"

Jehanne nodded.

She did not wish Hawk to be diminished in consequence or belittled by others just because he had a pert page who was on easy terms with him!

They passed on through the gate into the deafening bustle and myriad crowds of people that were a city.

Jehanne had assumed that they might go to find an hostelry to purchase the pie Hawk had promised once in the city; though she wondered how anyone might find their way anywhere! And yet there were appetising smells, and on the very streets were men with trays selling pies and other confectionaries. Jehanne stared, big eyed.

"My Lord, are there so many people in the world to eat so much food?" she asked in a hushed whisper.

Hawk chuckled gently and gave her a careless looking but reassuring hug.

"Little one, there are some ten thousand souls living in this city" he said "And more that that in the capital. The amount of food you see in this street would not be enough in quantity for the king and all his court; though they'd complain about it not being fine enough. And were there a better peace there had been cities like this too in the north, that would be fed by such of Voltan's demesnes, for with peace and law villages might be maintained in more places that not need castles to guard them. Here" he gave a few coins to a pie vendor for a couple of pies, passing one to Jehanne.

Jehanne was too hungry to be shocked at eating standing like a peasant on a field unable to interrupt his work, as she had grown up doing, and tucked in, marvelling at all the people around. She marvelled too at the tall houses, three and four storeys high, and soaring above them the great spire of the cathedral dominating the whole city. She felt very small indeed; and insignificant; and not a little scared. She clung tight to Hawk's cloak.

The warrior smiled reassuringly down at her.

"A city is a lot to take in at first, isn't it?" he said kindly. Jehanne nodded, grateful for his understanding. "I'm not so fond of cities myself" went on Hawk "Too many people! They seem to crush in on you somehow."

"Oh, that is JUST how I feel about it!" cried Jehanne. He ruffled her curls again.

"Hast finished thy pie, little one? Then we shall get out of some of these crowds at the cathedral" he said as she promptly swallowed the last mouthful and licked her fingers.

The cathedral swarmed with carven beasts and figures on the outside; and glowed with colour within, every surface of it painted with gaudy scenes of Biblical life. It was a far cry from the village church with a few rough drawings within and no more on the less than smooth lime plaster.

The last time Jehanne had seen the archbishop he had been dressed in a simple white cassock in the Abbey; now he was as gaudy as his surroundings, dressed in a robe of gorgeous purple silk and looking unapproachable.

This did not stop Hawk firmly approaching him.

Minions tried to make their archbishop an even more unapproachable figure, especially by some travel stained warrior, that the pristine priests clearly felt had no place anywhere within contamination distance of their prelate. Hawk blithely ignored those who would try to block his path, and strode forward, occasionally dancing around one or another as a born swordsman might easily elude one unable to respond to his dexterity. Jehanne, in his wake, turned to run out her tongue at the most officious of those who would have detained them and thumbed her nose at him. He reminded her of Rollo de Clairvallet; and wore also more gaudy robes than most, with a purple pattern on his black cassock.

Several of this dignified churchman's underlings found tasks that required them to turn away hurriedly after Jehanne pulled her faces, to hide smiles at the dean's outrage.

Hawk hailed the archbishop as he approached; and the old man stood up.

"Hawk! Good to see you!" he said "Stand aside, do, you are blocking Lord Hawk's way, and that of his page" he added to such ecclesiastic secretaries as still hovered protectively. He drew Hawk and Jehanne into an antechamber behind the throne.

Hawk gave the archbishop a concise resume of all that had happened to date.

The archbishop nodded.

"Monseigneur Cordo will help the king greatly" he said "And perchance his influence will extend to those regions over which the king has nominal control. The church knights make a more lawful region within a radius of some forty miles outside of this city; and you will have noted, too, that they keep the roads in good repair. But we can afford to send a couple of thousand to help fight the barbarians; it will too give good combat experience that a drill can never do. I will take you to the Precentor Martial, who will equip and be on the road as fast as possible; with luck in less than a week."

"A WEEK?" gasped Jehanne "And it be two days ride home too!"

"Eight days for a body of mounted soldiery" commented Hawk "This is why I be here now, little one; why Voltan exhorted me to make no delay. Voltan estimates a month ere the attack come; allowing for accidents, the knights should have encamped and be entrenched just in time."

Jehanne looked at him in horror.

"No wonder the barbarians have the upper hand then, an they be so mobile and our forces not!" she said.

"Aye; and that is why, as the archbishop knows, Voltan who knows their tactics like no man alive is our last best hope against them" said Hawk, softly.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Hawk and Jehanne were assigned quarters in the Cathedral Close, and ate in the refectory with the monks and clerics that served the cathedral. Hawk had met several times with Precentor Kopiek, who would lead the army himself; and Jehanne kicked her heels and wondered at what strange machines might have been needed to build so mighty a structure as the cathedral. She had no doubt that Voltan would know how; Voltan knew, to Jehanne's mind, almost everything. Hawk seemed to understand engineering too so she mentioned her wonder to him; and Hawk took the time to sketch the cranes Voltan had described to the pages and explained how they would be dismantled and raised every time they had built a certain amount, that they went up with the walls. He explained too how the pinnacles on top of the flying buttresses, whilst decorative, served too a useful purpose, pressing down on the lower point of the buttress that it not carry on pushing outwards; that without their weight, the cathedral walls would fall outwards. It was fascinating, and Jehanne spent some of her spare time making such sketches as she might, though she was no artist, to explain the principle to the others when she got home.

Lord Hawk of Falconsburg, also known as Hawk the Slayer, was a name known and revered throughout the realm – as well as in other realms too. And when it became known, as swiftly it did, that Hawk the Slayer was in the city, the visitors' lodgings were quickly inundated with visitors and petitioners, who wanted to see the great man for themselves, sometimes just to have the chance to see him, but more often than not to beg him to undertake some mission dear to their heart that such a paladin must, they felt, also feel a worthy quest; or else to try to hire his services to guard mercantile trains.

At first, Jehanne, unsuspecting, led visitors directly to Hawk, assuming that no man would come to see him an he were not a close friend; but when she realised her mistake, and as more and more started coming she begged Hawk to tell her what she should do; for Hawk had not the time to be troubled with trivialities, that most pleas turned out to be!

Hawk pulled a rueful face as he wracked his brains in thought, himself rather bewildered at how his fame had led to people hammering on the door and calling out his name, even as Jehanne asked his advice and guidance.

"I cannot abandon my current duty for the needs of others" he said "My priority MUST be to stand by my brother against the barbarians. Such is ultimately in the interests of all."

"Shall I just tell them all that you are engaged on a mission and they must go away?" asked Jehanne "For I'm not sure they will; some have been a bit pugnacious and rude even at having to await another who has come first."

"Tell them – tell them that I AM engaged upon a mission that claims my time but ask them to write their petition down and I will read them all" said Hawk "An any be vital, I can ask the Precentor to find a man to deal with it; as they might have done in the first place. Being well known is not so douce a situation."

Jehanne nodded.

She subsequently had callers in in groups of five at the busiest times and told them that Lord Hawk was a busy man, passing through whilst on other pressing business, and an they wrote down their needs he had promised to peruse them all. Most, faced by a forceful youth who waved them to the dormant table on which quills and paper waited, complied. Others argued and found Jehanne implacable, that they could write their petition or go away without making any request at all. Of these, most caved in, others tried to waylay Hawk at some other time, which led him to asking the Precentor for an escort to and from his office.

One merchant was particularly insistent, and started making threats to Jehanne, that she would regret her obstructiveness.

Jehanne looked on him scornfully. He might be a big man in the city, but he could do nothing to disrupt her life!

"Look here" said Jehanne "You have no authority to threaten me; nothing you have any control over has anything to do with me, I don't live in your stinking ugly city and I don't want to. You can write a petition or you can get out. And depending on how much you continue to irritate me depends how many digits you have left to do it with. Remember, I have been trained in sword by my goodbrother, Voltan; and he has taught me not to mess about with nasty little types of nobodies like you."

That was a name to conjure with too; and though Jehanne might well have been in trouble for maiming the merchant one look at her face showed him that such would not bring his fingers back. He left with alacrity, to Jehanne's relief. She did not really want to start cutting off fingers; still there was a certain pleasure in threatening people. She could see why it occasionally appealed to Voltan!

A single visitor who came later in the evening was one that Jehanne might not readily threaten, for being a woman; and Jehanne was uncertain indeed how to deal with the lovely blonde creature who demanded to see Hawk, claiming to know him.

"If you know him, your name on a petition will send him to you an you have information to pass to him" said Jehanne firmly.

"You think I am an informant only? Why Hawk and I met when he was last in the city, in my father's house" she paused "There is practically an understanding between us. Which I suppose I should not expect a grubby brat like you to understand; but you should really understand that thy master will punish you an I not be led to him straightway!"

Jehanne flushed in anger.

Suddenly she HATED this woman. How dare she? She was not worthy of Hawk, she was not one who would share with him the discomforts of campaign! Jehanne made herself speak levelly.

"An you can show me a betrothal document, madam, that were a different matter; but methinks My Lord would have mentioned an he had a betrothed in this city and is not lost to what would be due to such by going to see her at his earliest convenience. As he has not, and as you do not produce the same, I can only draw mine own conclusions; and I cannot disturb My Lord for any brief encounter he may have had once with some specie of hired entertainment."

The woman slapped Jehanne so hard, the girl went flying; rolled, was on her feet, and slapped her back.

"How DARE you slap a woman!" cried the woman.

"How dare YOU strike a child that but follows orders?" shouted Jehanne "I will retaliate to any snapping bitch that barks within My Lord's halls! OUT of here, thou baggage, thou importunate wench! An my words had not been truth or close to truth, hadst not felt a need to so strike me!" she used the familiar form as to an underling to emphasise her contempt.

"Thou wilt be sorry" said the woman, trying to respond in kind "My father is wealthy; he will make sure you are punished, you whelp!"

Jehanne's heart hammered; with anger more than fear, for Hawk would not permit any such!

"Your father has no jurisdiction over me; and my goodbrother may not have his wealth in disposable assets but I wager that an your family be so ill advised as to start something, my sister's husband will surely finish it, for he is my patron and sponsor!" she snarled.

The woman sneered.

"And who might this remarkable goodbrother of yours think he is?" she demanded.

"He knows he is Voltan" said Jehanne

The name was really quite magical.

The woman paled.

"I don't believe you" she said.

"No? Who else would Lord Hawk have as page but own relative of his brother's bride?" said Jehanne "That you strike me will not please that goodbrother of mine either."

"Hawk loathes Voltan! Enough of your lying nonsense!"

"Say again that I lie, baggage, and I shall take my belt to your slanderous and over padded backside!" said Jehanne, starting to enjoy herself "Art but one of the commons; and I shall chastise thee for thy contumely that grows from thine incredible ignorance. All the world knows that Hawk and Voltan are reconciled; and that you know not proves the more that you are nothing to My Lord."

"As my page says; it is true, and discourteous to doubt the word of a good and honest child" said Hawk's voice quietly for he had entered to see what the altercation was about. "Helena; did you truly strike the child?"

"He was pert! He implied I was nothing but a courtesan!"

"Did you?" asked Hawk.

Jehanne shrugged.

"When a bold woman claims to know you and implies that be intimately, and hath no betrothal document to back up any way a modest woman would explain what she called an understanding what else could she mean?" she asked.

"The child has a very good point" said Hawk "Save that you lie about any understanding or imtimacy."

"The brat is too young to understand love!" cried Helena, casting herself upon Hawk "That an understanding of the heart is beyond him!"

Hawk looked nonplussed, for she had a deathgrip about his neck, and he hardly liked to thrust the woman violently aside, uncertain how to deal with the amorous advances of a woman to whom he had been civil for her father's hospitality when he was last in the city.

Jehanne had no such qualms.

She threw a jug of cold water over Helena, neatly managing to mostly miss Hawk. The woman flinched back at the cold deluge and Hawk made escape from her clinging arms to behind the table, whence he raised an eyebrow at Jehanne.

"'Tis what you do with rutting dogs" said Jehanne "or hysterical women. She be one or the other I ween."

"It is unkind and improper for one of noble blood to call any female a bitch, whatever you suspect of her" said Hawk, his lips twitching.

"Hawk, I want you to WHIP him for his insolence to me! And I shall watch!" demanded Helena.

Hawk stared.

"Rather had I demand your father punish you for your assault upon my page!" he cried "The bruise is evident already on the child's poor little face! It confirm something I wondered" he added coldly "For in your father's house I liked not your manner to the servants, that was ill bred and rude; and that you strike one that seeks to protect me from importunate petitioners makes me wonder how often you have been so low as to strike your own servants. I make no doubt that you were demanding and imperious in your manner to my page that would fill any youth of such standing with resentment to it; and be thankful that I be too busy to wish to make an issue that you have struck a child of better estate than yourself. Now leave; and I will not then make plaint either to your father so long as I never see you again."

"You – you put a grubby brat over me?" Helena let her lip quiver, hiding the shock she had felt at realising that Jehanne was – as pages tended to be – counted a noble.

"When it's my page, any time" said Hawk "I try to be courteous to all females, Helena, but you make it hard. And methinks an you crossed the path of any child I'd rescue the same from your nasty vindictive temper. Get out. I have said I do not want to see you again; that means from this very second."

Helena gasped at the ice in his tone; and fled sobbing in anger and humiliation.

Jehanne barred the door behind her and ran to Hawk's arms.

"Tell me, My Lord, that you have never loved that – that COW!" she demanded. "And I pray you, can her father make trouble for you?"

Hawk laughed.

"I have not ever felt any warm feelings for the fair Helena past objective admiration of her looks" he said "I did not even realise she had romantic designs on me. As to her father, why I scarcely think she will humiliate herself by telling him of this incident, for he will not listen to her stirring him up against me or my kindred. I stayed in her father's house after having rescued him and his goods from brigands; that he is in my debt for his life. I was as polite to his daughter as courtesy dictates" he gently touched the bruise on her face "That were a cruel blow; the slight mark on her cheek I saw where you struck her back was in no wise a retaliation in kind."

"I was already riled" said Jehanne "She said you would punish me an I not let her see you. You would chide me an I not CHECK that it were important; but you'd never punish me for doing what I was told. Then when she went on about understandings and I said she was some specie of hired entertainment, that was when she hit me, and when I got up I slapped her back more on principle than anything else."

"When you got up? She hit you hard enough to knock you down? 'Fore God, I wish I HAD complained to her father!" cried Hawk "And for threatening punishment to you….intolerable! no little Jehanne, I would never punish you for obeying orders. And if you disobeyed orders for good reason, and could display why, I should not, probably even punish that. Her kind, I fear, are a sickness in cities; that infect the church also. That there be an abundance of poor people who have moved to the city to avoid rural poverty and brigandage, that find worse poverty in the city and they always be there, therefore, as servants for the rich, however badly they treat them."

"Is that not counterproductive?" asked Jehanne "It is like feudalism, surely; that loyalty goes both ways?"

Hawk shrugged.

"Not really; for it is not the same. In the city, the loyalty is oft times as deep as the purse of the employer. It is bought and paid for. In the city, where none might cultivate ground and be self sufficient, money is needed to eat. And those in need put up with much abuse to avoid starving, and then going back to a position where they will again starve."

"I REALLY don't like cities" said Jehanne.

"And I agree with you little one" said Hawk with a sigh. He dropped a light kiss on her forehead. "We shall not, therefore, visit more often than we have to."

"No" said Jehanne, fervently "There might be other idiotic women who think you handsome and admire your bravery without understanding, as one who have not shared it cannot do, what it is that makes you a warrior and just how good you are, and how it is your dedication that makes you so good."

He touched her face lightly.

"Did I hear a touch of jealousy, little one?"

She flushed.

"Aye" she said.

"You be too young – as yet" said Hawk "And I were a knave an I tried to treat you as a woman grown ere you be such; but in a year or two, an thou art still of the same mind, then we shall see."

She stared; then a fierce smile flashed across her face.

"You – you are fond of me thus?" she asked, blushing.

"I was jealous of Florian" said Hawk.

She snorted.

"Hast no need, My Lord! Oh I do love you, but I am not sure an it be all grown up yet!"

"I know; and we wait until it is" he said, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her forehead again. "As you say, how can I be happy but with one who understands what I do and who has shared hardships with me? And how can you be happy but with one who accepts and takes pride in your martial prowess and bravery?"

Jehanne leaned against him happily.

The door was banged on once more with another calling Hawk's name.

"Be damned to them all!" cried Jehanne "My Lord, the back of this cottage hath a window onto the monastery garden; let us collect our packs and escape hence and beg sanctuary from these importunate fools!"

"I don't usually flee trouble" said Hawk "But I think in such situation I may heed your wise advice about a tactical withdrawal!"

oOoOo

Back at the castle, Annis asked Voltan,

"How long will it take for Hawk to acquire church knights and bring them, my love?"

Voltan pulled a face.

"Two days to ride to Ernbridge; then much depends on whether the archbishop is there to smooth the way else he had spent likely several days kicking his heels to be seen by one who may or may not take him seriously and provide what we ask. I should think they likely would; he's well known after all. But say two days while they decide. Eight days to mobilise, I trow; and as many to march north. Twenty days, almost three weeks in all."

"Cutting it a little fine" said Annis dryly.

"An Hawk not return within the week to say the church knights do not come, that they have refused us aid, we know at least we will have them – at some point" said Voltan "And if that be not here when word comes that the barbarians are sighted, then I will alter tactics, drowning such as I might, slaying those trapped on our side of the deluge an I may and withdrawing to the castle with our men from all the watchtowers. Then we await reinforcements, for the barbarians have no stomach for an extended siege. They'll hope to loot all they may; and odd sallies may keep them interested until the knights come…..though their own scouts may report such an arrival and they withdraw rather than fight.!

Annis nodded.

"I mislike this uncertainty" she said.

"Aye; so too do I" said Voltan "Our brother knows what time I have guessed, though; he'll be here with the knights in time. Hawk is reliable like that."

oOoOo

Hawk was now installed in a knight's cell, having escaped the petitioners as Jehanne had suggested. His page had the cell next to him; and Hawk had needed to see Precentor Kopiek to insist on that, rather than that she should sleep with the other novices.

Kopiek had frowned.

"Why should your page not sleep with others of the same effective position? Is he so tender a flower that he not be able to cope with the rough and tumble of being with other lads? An that be so I hardly think he be so good a page!"

"SHE" said Hawk "Is less a tender flower but of those tender years when bodies are even more embarrassing than usual. And an YOU trust that she would not get comments at least and prurient handling at worst, I consider her fears over the same are valid."

Kopiek blinked.

"A GIRL?" he said.

"Yes; she's my brother's wife's sister. And Annis acts squire to Voltan. You may be able to waste resources down here, but I assure you that in the north, anyone who can ply a sword fights brigands and barbarians. We have no time or space for freeloaders like the city women here, I can tell you."

He was thinking of Helena.

Kopiek blinked hard; and reassessed.

"Are conditions so bad?" he asked.

"You don't KNOW what bad is" said Hawk grimly. "You won't see much trouble; two thousand church knights generally scare the most hardened of brigands. Of lawless elements, only my brother would have been insane enough to take you on; and only because he's brilliant enough to have a good chance of a tactical victory. Most others have not his skill – or his boldness, for which we must be thankful. But they prey on those who look weak. Militant villagers who arm all tend to get left alone. Unfortunately, without guidance, that rarely happens. Jehanne, my page, and her little sister, were rescued by my brother from the attentions of slavers. Annis' father scatters bastards about the countryside you see" he added by way of brief explanation. "Voltan enacts harsh execution on slavers and brigands – those that survive – and on HIS lands, a man is fairly safe to travel as he will. He's looking to open more land to cultivation if we can but crush these barbarians, else it will draw them as a lodestone draws steel. There are few families indeed that have not lost at least one member to brigandage, kidnap or barbarian raiders; whole villages have been wiped out. More people die of violence than in plagues of smallpox. Aye, that's bringing it home now, isn't it?"

Kopiek nodded.

"It is; I confess I had no idea, though I talk in blasé fashion about 'the lawless north' like everyone else. I had not truly considered what that meant; and I admit to being ashamed of that. But is Voltan so changed, truly?"

"Yes: and no" said Hawk "He has ever been ruthless, as one must be fighting the long odds we have of implacable foes; and headstrong and hasty. He have learned to think more ere he acts with age, as I too must endeavour to emulate that myself. It's a family fault! There was right and wrong on both sides of our quarrel; and the cursed wound he bore had him raging like a wounded bear in agony. With that healed by the gentle hands of the Lady Annis he has been able to think clearly; and to learn to love himself, that he has been able to find room too to love God. And my hatred for him…. I fear that as a boy I almost worshipped my brother, and when he proved to be only human, methinks half my despite for him was in disappointment over that. We have a better friendship than we have ever done from the better understanding we have, each of the other; and we have forgotten the past. He is no crueller than any lord, and to his dependants more lenient than many; and though many of his punishments shocked me at first, I see now that he is but more imaginative than most and have a desire to make the punishment fit the crime. Brigands dressed as monks who fell in with, then waylaid travellers he had crucified. Slavers who traffic children for sex he plans to impale to give them some – brief – inkling of what they do. And really, I suppose neither be longer or more painful deaths than hanging: merely more shocking to contemplate when we be not used to it. He feels that such may make people think twice ere they take to careers as brigands or slavers. I don't necessarily agree with what he does; but I do see his reasons. And his peasants applaud such and approve his actions and methinks it is very easy for those of us who have NOT suffered the depredations of the lawless elements of the north to judge too hastily."

"Actually Lord Hawk, I'm not necessarily opposed to those who impale child spoilers" said Kopiek "One of the lads who went against that Marfey fellow at your request – newly knighted, only seventeen – had interviewed some of the children on his demesne. He still has the occasional nightmare. If your brother's wife was destined to marry that creature I can quite see Voltan's point in the matter; a man is allowed to feel violent towards those who are a threat to his family. And MY eldest daughter is seven years old. I'm dubious about crucifixion, but only on religious grounds. Still, I suppose an it had not been a standard punishment it had not ended up being significant to us. I'll judge Voltan for myself; and in light of what you have told me about the north methinks I'll not look to judge harshly."

"Thank you Lord Precentor" said Hawk "And thank you for putting us up here away from people with missions they think I'd like to undertake for them. The petition to find a missing daughter may be tragic and one I might have followed, that I thank you for assigning a man to do so; the one to find a missing dog is, I'm afraid, rather frivolous for my skills. And I am NOT for hire as a guard!"

"Quite so" agreed Kopiek who sympathised deeply once Hawk had brandished the petitions at him!


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The castle companies rode out on patrols regularly, each company of twenty or so men split into two patrols of ten each, and capable, generally speaking, of handling any trouble that they came upon. Being more settled, Voltan had had tabards made for the two patrols out at any one time dyed green with his device of a clenched black fist appliquéd on back and front so that they were easily identifiable, to strike terror into the hearts of wrongdoers and to give villagers the growing knowledge that they might trust these people. There were less to patrol at the moment for one company was manning the hastily constructed watchtowers; each tower would ultimately be strengthened to be proof against raiding bands, if defended cleverly, and some would doubtless form the nucleus of new villages in the future. Voltan had plans to graze sheep on the blasted heath, for example. They were to be abandoned before any horde for the time being, the men to save themselves and bring word; but there needed to be enough men in each to guard against casual brigands trying to take the towers.

The men were childishly delighted at the idea of sending messages in code and looked forward to one being devised. Caspar had begged the task of devising one and Voltan had readily acceded to his request as Caspar was an educated man and no warrior. His initial idea had been a system of patterns that were placed up, being symmetrical that the message might go either way, and left in place with either shutters or lanterns; but with the enthusiasm from the men, Caspar had suggested that there should be a man on watch each way at all times ultimately, and an alphabetic system, that any message might be sent. Voltan was dubious.

"Not all the men are literate" he said.

"They don't necessarily have to be to copy out a message and pass on" said Caspar "But an we teach them to read too, then your messages could be as complex as necessary and could indicate too which way the message passed."

"Will you teach them then, those as will learn?" asked Voltan cynically.

"Aye, My Lord, I will; for such serves my prince as much as teaching him" said Caspar.

"Work out simple codes that can be left in place too; we shall start with those and add complexities as the literacy improves" said Voltan "Things like 'barbarians sighted' or 'send aid' or 'plague in nearby village'. Urgent things."

Caspar nodded.

He and his pupils built a prototype screen at one third size with four holes by four holes, where the shutters were opened by rope and held open by the rope being secured. At night lanterns could be hoisted by pulley and the open shutters would show which holes were in use, though that only worked one way; and it was agreed that at night the most vital information would be going towards the castle. Numbers, Caspar indicated simply at first, to indicate numbers, say, in a marauding band; that the bottom row was used, one hole indicating less than ten, two being from ten to an hundred, three being in the hundreds and four indicating thousands. The number of doors being what counted, it mattered little an it were read left to right or right to left.

Even so it was a project for the future, even the simplified form but it kept Caspar and his pupils happily occupied.

As they squabbled over what messages to work out, Florian pointed out that it were not much use to ask for healers or food or aid an nobody knew which tower to send the same to; and it was decided that the stations would be numbered by asymmetric patterns running vertically so that after the message 'send aid' had been repeated to show it had been read, the number of the station needing it might be indicated. And as Florian said, the message would only ever be travelling towards the castle.

It kept the pages from trying to be otherwise helpful and getting underfoot; for which Voltan was profoundly glad.

The patrols of course were not looking for barbarians; but rather continuing to make sure there was no brigandage in Voltan's sphere of influence. And they were glad of the new horses taken from the barbarian raiding party, for they were lithe and strong and capable of a ground eating canter for extended periods.

Such evil doers as were caught might generally expect rather summary justice from the patrols; Voltan did not want to trouble with prisoners unless there was any doubt as to their guilt. Since most brigands were taken either during raids or in the act of gloating over their loot, this was not usually a problem. Only if there was any confusion was Voltan consulted and the evil doers or suspected evil doers taken back to him.

Such an occasion occurred when Elissa was on patrol; and her party brought in a woman and a group of children ranging in age from about six through to twelve or thirteen.

Elissa pushed the woman forward.

"Says she's starting a children's crusade" said Elissa laconically "Has these younglings all fired up with fervour to go with her. Something didn't quite smell right; but because of her looks…"

Voltan looked quizzically at the young woman; whose silver gilt hair and blue eyes and features argued that she was likely to be another half sister of Annis' though she was a taller, heavier built woman than tiny delicate Annis.

"Sit those children down at the low table and feed them; they look hungry" said Voltan. "You; this way" he beckoned her over to the high end of the Great Hall and leaned nonchalantly against the wall, surreptitiously opening the door into the solar beyond wherein the children were studying their lessons with Caspar; and said "We can speak frankly and privately here" knowing that Florian at least would take THAT as a hint to eavesdrop. "So" he went on "What's the real idea of collecting those children and what would be my cut?"

Voltan was hoping she would slap him and call him names for such a suggestion; hoped she was sincere, if misguided. That a sister of his beloved Annis should be as fishy as Elissa thought would hurt.

Instead the woman shrugged.

"Oh, since you're a man of the world, I'm sure we can come to some arrangement. I have a contract to find children to sell to a merchant in the capital who'll then distribute them" she said "It was simple to play on the stupid faith of the little fools."

"Oh? Which merchant? It may be that I have better contacts" said Voltan.

"I doubt it; Deevan Krenn is as rich as Croesus and is known in society" she said.

"Florian" Voltan now raised his voice "Repeat to the children that are being fed pottage in the great hall what you have just heard. Elissa; hang this creature. And remember to tie her skirts at knee level ere you do; I'll not have her made immodest in her death throes looking as much like my wife as she do."

The woman shrieked and would have tried to flee; but Voltan tripped her and Elissa leaped on her to bind her. The children would have run to her but Florian shouted,

"Don't you kids want to know what she said when she though only My Lord could hear her?"

They did; and they did not. But Florian told them anyway and asked, when one challenged his word, what reason he had to lie about one he had never met.

As another child they were inclined to believe him and stared in horror, sobbing in shock.

"Florian speaks truth" said Voltan harshly "And THAT is why Elissa brought you all here; because she suspected as much. Slavers tried to take my little sisters; I don't like slavers.

"They be his wife's sisters" said Florian to the children "Well, half sisters; and as SHE looks a bit like My Lord's wife, save that Lady Annis looks like an angel and really is one, she probably is too."

"Save that her face is now twisted in rage and hatred that reminds one more of their father, Peter Haldane" said Elissa "And he's a creep…. My Lord, what are we going to do with all these children?"

"Those who have family and abandoned them for this lie shall go back to them; any that have no family shall go to the nuns as they be prepared for Godly endeavour unless they be prepared to work hard as part of our village" snapped Voltan "We need no excess brats that cannot be useful, not with battle coming."

"Who do you fight, My Lord?" asked a boy about Florian's age.

"We fight the barbarians of the north; who be greater hindrance to Christendom than the infidels of the south who but want to be left alone" said Voltan "Why, are you a mighty warrior boy?"

The lad flushed.

"I am a fair archer, My Lord, better than many adults" he said "I have no real home to go to, only a drunkard of a father; I'll fight pagans an you will have me."

"Very well" said Voltan "Florian, take him to Kroll to train; art Kroll's apprentice, boy."

Florian nodded.

He'd see what the boy was like; it might be fun to have a friend his own age!

Voltan scowled at the rest, causing some of the younger ones to burst into tears. This was ALL he needed at the moment. He scowled more.

"If the harsh looks of one that is NOT your enemy and who have in fact rescued you from a fate I hope none of you can imagine be enough to move you to tears, child, art not staunch enough to face worse than scowls from them that would not respect your youthful years – and you were truly on crusade" he said irritably "Get them out of my sight, Elissa as soon as they've finished eating; I'll not have puling brats around me."

The effect of this harsh speech was a little spoiled by Sylvia and Lukat emerging from the solar and possessing themselves each of one of the warlord's hands; but Elissa knew better than to grin.

And if none of the would be crusaders protested about being called puling brats, why then, they probably were.

They had been attracted by the thought of adventure as much as swayed by religious fervour; and were tired, hungry and finding it all more than they had bargained for. Once sent home they would be no more trouble to their parents!

"My Lord" put in Elissa's lieutenant, who was holding the bound woman "Don't we ought to crucify her as she be a religious fraud?"

Voltan grinned nastily.

"Excellent idea; and quite right. See to it" he said. "And one of you ride to the Abbey of the Crag and ask to have news of this merchant in the city, Deevan Krenn, sent through that he be arrested."

Hawk and Jehanne rode ahead of the church knights on the last, irksomely slow day's journey back, glad to pick up the pace and get ahead of the noise and confusion that was an army camp; and to Jehanne's mind almost like a city on the move.

They came face to face with Voltan's area of salutary executions where a few heads grinned sightlessly on poles and a crucifix stood with a pale haired woman nailed to it, the hair wafting gently in the breeze.

Hawk gasped.

"Surely not!" he cried, in anguish "Voltan, what have you DONE?" he set heels to his horse to ride closer. It took a while to die of crucifixion….she might yet be alive…

Jehanne's heart too had lurched, then she looked again.

"It isn't Annis" she said loudly.

"What?" Hawk turned.

"It isn't Annis. That woman is bigger – and heavier boned. And look, her face is coarser, you can see the chin below the curtain of hair" said Jehanne.

Hawk looked again; then dismounted to be violently sick.

Jehanne was beside him, handing him the water bottle to rinse his mouth.

He did so and gave her a shaky grin.

"I was so afraid Voltan had lapsed" he said "And I must beg his forgiveness for unworthy thought."

"And unwonted lack of common sense, My Lord" said Jehanne "Voltan might have lashed out in rage and killed her half in accident; he'd never execute her whatever she had done until his child was born. He'd confine her instead."

Hawk gave an embarrassed laugh.

"You're quite right; my stupidity" he said.

Jehanne put her arms about him.

"Hawk, my dear Hawk, it's because you love him so well, don't you?" she said "And would HURT an he did something that was like the old Voltan. It – it's not because you love Annis as a brother should not, is it?"

Hawk blinked.

"Oh I love Annis well; but no, not in that way" he said "Thought you so?"

"I wondered an I were second best" ventured Jehanne.

He hugged her fiercely.

"Never, little one!" he said "Voltan – who as you say I love well enough to be hurt by – is welcome to thy virago of a sister! I would grieve dreadfully an that had been Annis; for a sister though, not for a love. As I should grieve yet more for my brother's soul."

"What says the notice above her?" asked Jehanne "Art taller than I, that you may read it more readily."

Hawk read out,

"'Here is one that used her resemblance to Lady Annis the angel to lead children that were to be sold.' Dear God! What a monster!" he added.

"Truly" said Jehanne "A mercenary piece; more akin to her father in temperament, even, than in looks."

Hawk nodded.

"Let's get on home with our news" he said.

And it was home; as much home as anywhere had ever been since Falconsburg Castle had been lost. Home was where the people you loved were.

Hawk's embrace of Voltan was rough and tight when the brothers met.

"Is ought wrong?" demanded Voltan.

Hawk flushed.

"No; and because of that I owe you an apology, my brother" he said in a low, intense voice "For an awful moment I thought the crucified woman was Annis."

Voltan stared, then caught Hawk to him in a bear like embrace.

"Ah, brother mine! You must have felt quite sick with horror….. it had not occurred to me that such might cross your mind, I'm afraid; in truth, I've been so busy I'd forgotten that nasty wench" and quickly he told Hawk what had happened.

Hawk made a sound of disgust.

"I'll certainly not argue against you crucifying HER" he said "That were one of the most evil things I have ever heard. Do you forgive me?"

"It were forgiven immediately" said Voltan "We still find much out about each other; and I am still hot of temper. I understand your fears, though an Annis hurt me badly enough to want her dead, she still carries my child. Though I confess, part of my fury towards this female was her looks; that one so like Annis in looks should be her very opposite in character, almost usurping Annis…."

"'Twas why he got all literary and embarrassing on the inscription" said Annis, coming to kiss Jehanne and Hawk both on the cheeks. "Fortunately most of the children had homes to go to that we might return the silly fools to. Crusades? For children? I ASK you! When do our knights arrive?"

"By k-nightfall" quipped Jehanne.

Annis cuffed her lightly.

"Tedious ride?" Voltan asked Hawk.

"Moderately" his brother replied laconically. "Oh we had some grand excitement on the second day; one of the horses started frothing at the mouth, everyone screamed 'rabid' and his rider had to shout to get attention to admit rather shamefacedly that the stupid creature had thought his soap was a titbit and had bitten on it."

Voltan and Annis laughed.

"We have latrine pits prepared for them, and firewood gathered, and a cookfire pit with hurdles to shield it from wind and the worst of the rain set up" said Annis.

"And those courtesies Precentor Kopiek will take kindly and find efficient" said Hawk. "Will we have him and his lieutenants in the castle confines to live?"

"An he so wish" said Voltan "He'll drop in mine eyes an he take us up; in his shoes I'd as soon be with my men; as would you, brother. We'll have a chamber for their use – that they might sleep in an a conference go on late, and they shall take odd meals with us."

Hawk nodded.

He suspected that Kopiek would think much as Voltan did.

And the gay banners and burnished armour of the church knights began arriving.

Voltan and Annis rode out to greet them, with Voltan's captains and Hawk and Jehanne; and Voltan carried the banner of Falconsburg, the green pennant with the hawk grasping a flaming sword in its talons. Foregrim carried too the castle banner of the fist on the green ground; and Hawk his personal banner of a white hawk on a green ground.

Kopiek rode forward to salute the warlord with a flourish of his blade; and bowed low to Annis after Voltan had replied in kind.

"My Lady!" the Precentor said "I see the resemblance now as mentioned on that crucifix; save that your virtue glows in the serenity of your face! You look but little like Jehanne though, methinks."

"Strictly speaking she is something akin to being my stepsister" said Annis "And not related; she's the half sister of my half sister from when my repellent father forced himself on their mother; but I count her my sister and an any wish to argue that my sword is at their disposal."

"I never argue with my wife" said Voltan with a ghost of a smile "She knows far too much about how to make a man's life uncomfortable, even an I best her at swordplay. Not that I was inclined to in this instance; never occurred to me not to count Jehanne as Annis' sister, caring for her little sister as she was. Jehanne's a strong girl; she's kin to my mind and I too would oppose any that dispute it."

Kopiek nodded.

"And I had no intent to do so; but may I say that comment tells me, Lord Voltan, than any eulogies about you any might manage; and I like what I find" he said.

Voltan looked horrified.

"I don't think anyone has ever had the gall to eulogise me!" he said.

Kopiek laughed.

"Oh, only Jehanne, and more restrainedly Hawk; who has been at pains to explain that you be a military genius. I did not know how lawless the north really was until he told me a few facts; and I confess admiration for your abilities to date. Would you find it helpful after this be over if I place a company of knights at your disposal that might then build themselves a chapter house?"

Voltan considered.

"That were useful, Lord Precentor; horse and foot mixed an that be possible. Perchance under Sir Lyall? I know and respect the boy."

Precentor Kopiek nodded.

"It would do him good to have so relatively independent a command" he said "He'd be under you and Lord Hawk of course; but he'd manage his own chapter house."

"So long as a chapter house not lead to an 'us and them' rivalry" said Voltan sharply "I'd want some of the knights serving inside the walls; in rotation, that they feel at one with their allies."

Kopiek shot him an approving look.

"Nothing YOU don't know about managing men" he grunted in approval "And that's almost worth as much as being a military genius! Can you run through the basic plan of campaign you've set up before I go to eat? My men will cook for me; and my thanks that they may be at that so quickly for your good preparation."

Voltan explained the ford and the deluge idea; and the watch towers.

"If we let about a third cross the ford, when they've been cut off we might fall on them and hopefully cause enough carnage that the others will think twice about ever trying it again" he said.

Kopiek nodded.

"Sound strategy" he said "Your men are steady?"

"Forty held spears against a charge of twice their number" said Voltan proudly "And did not break."

"That's steady" approved Kopiek "How many did you lose?"

"Eight in total" said Voltan. "To the arrows of the barbarians that they fired when they could not break the squareof spears."

"SQUARE of spears?"

"Come within; I can explain better over wine and light refreshments while your meal is prepared" said Voltan.

Hawk nodded to himself.

His brother and Kopiek were going to get on fine, they had already reached mutual respect. Many church knights distrusted new tactics; Kopiek was cut from a different cloth and would always listen. And with proven success from the square of spears he would likely ask Voltan to train his own foot soldiers in like tactics.

There was a really good chance that this battle would be decisive enough to keep the barbarians out; perchance for a whole generation!

Hawk had already asked what news there had been and had discovered that the dam was holding against the swiftly filling gorge; for the spring floods had come. A notch had been left at the centre of the dam to allow excess water to drain away through it, that too the river would not seem to run suspiciously dry when the barbarians arrived. Messengers rode twice daily to the watchtowers for additional news than the simple red flag that would herald sighting of the barbarians.

Gort was in fine spirits and looking for a fight; and the troops were at a high level of morale and ready for anything.

In a way it would be worse now an the barbarians failed to come.

But Voltan said that they must come; for the way of their culture was that a chief must be seen to be a great leader. Of course a GREAT leader would have read the message sent by the four survivors that Voltan was too strong to be worth fighting; but to the barbarians greatness was not measured in keeping their people safe but in the number of victories he had. And the chief's son or nephew had been killed; no matter an he were a favourite or not, for, Voltan argued, the chief dared not swallow that without response. And Voltan had admitted that in the years of raging pain he had acted almost like the barbarians he had come to know well enough, over such as his response to the death of Drogo. And Hawk believed that his brother knew what he was talking about; and duly expected the barbarians to come.

And the church knights settled in, dug their ditches and built a stockade and waited too; while their Precentor discussed tactics with Voltan and Hawk and Annis and Jehanne listened and learned. And if Kopiek was in any way surprised that the tiny and fragile looking Lady Annis should listen in and even make the odd extremely shrewd comment, he said nothing; and recalled what Hawk had said about the women of the north being able.

And he conceived a solution to his eldest daughter's frequent sulks that girls could not be church knights; that he should promise her that when she was old enough to begin an novitiate she should be a page to Lord Hawk or Lord Voltan. That should keep her quiet and with luck by the time she was fourteen she would have forgotten the whole thing.

Kopiek beamed brightly; then had to explain why as he found the warlord looking quizzically at him. And Voltan laughed and agreed she would either work it out of her system or her resolve would be strong enough to mean it was in her blood!


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Voltan and Annis lay entwined in each other's arms, sleeping after loving, the warlord's hand touching his wife's belly where he might now feel the movements of his child. The imminence of war had lent a tenderness and poignancy to their loving for the unspoken fears for the future.

There was a knocking at the door to drag them from their slumber; and cat-like, Voltan was immediately awake.

"Come" the warlord commanded, sitting up and striking flint on steel to light a candle. Annis was awake almost as quickly, learning to hone her senses to those of a warrior.

It was Ralph who entered, politely averting his eyes from Annis. That this was partly out of apprehension that she might take issue with him always made Annis grin. Ralph would bear to his grave the scar though his hand where Annis had impaled the offending member for being laid rather more intimately on her person than she had liked before he had learned to respect her – and for that matter, himself.

Ralph firmly looked only at Voltan's face.

"My Lord, message has been brought by the lighting of a watchfire that the barbarians have been spotted" he said. He paused, then plunged on, for Voltan had started to encourage independent thought "I have made guess that their helms were seen in the last gleam of the setting sun and it took a while for message to be sent, perchance the flag was raised first but the poor light at sunset made it hard to discern and a fire too dim to discern either; the setting sun would have been between the first watchtower and the second and the glare would have been considerable. It were a bright evening."

Voltan nodded.

"A good surmise to explain their dilatory behaviour; and you are right to do so. Doubtless we shall find the truth of it later. Meantime rouse Precentor Martial Kopiek and get the men up for a night march. We'll be in position and finish our sleep hidden by the folded ground. They'll want to cross the ford unseen shortly after dawn; I do not think any but a fool would risk the uncertain ground at the crossing in the dark."

Ralph nodded and hurried off. If they tried to cross in the dark they would be noisy about it; the men in the watchtower would use their discretion to flood the valley, that would cause the more confusion in the dark.

Annis kissed Voltan fiercely.

"Part of me – most of me – wishes I was coming" she said. "I have never been left out of your ventures since I was first your hostage. Even if sometimes it was in a spirit of disobedience" she grinned recalling the time she and Elissa had followed Voltan – and had been glad they had – when he rode to confront the wizard.

"Part of you kicks hard enough to say mine offspring agrees" grinned Voltan "Hast proved thyself in battle to the men; none will think worse of you for protecting our child. You be their darling to come home to."

"I grieve not to be there as healer" said Annis. "Should I join the sortie and promise faithfully to stay at the rear?"

Voltan hesitated, torn between concern for his pregnant wife and the needs of his men; and nodded.

"Aye my love; for the men will be heartened to know you'll be there to patch them up afterwards or comfort them in their dying" he said. "And in sooth it will hearten me to know you are not far away; though I should feel gladdened to think of you in safety."

"We belong together" said Annis simply.

Voltan was right that Annis was their darling and their talisman; the men raised a hearty cheer when Annis mounted up beside her husband; and she knew she did the right thing.

"You contrary, stubborn wench" said Elissa affectionately "Can you not keep your nose out?"

"Until I have trained a body of effective healers, no" said Annis. "I have promised My Lord that I shall stay out of the fray; and what is more, I even mean to obey him!"

Elissa grinned.

"Oh you always keep your promises" she said "What used to drive him wild was your habit of keeping them to the letter!"

Annis chuckled.

She and Voltan had had a rather tempestuous courtship!

"A night march?" queried Kopiek "Sound carries far at night."

"The sounds of the rapids upstream will muffle much, being between us and them" said Voltan "We shall camp a mile or so from the ford, methinks, and in a fold of ground that will also swallow sound. They reached, so I belief, sight of the bluffs at last light; I believe they'll start to get under way just before dawn to cross the ford as soon as it is fully light."

Kopiek nodded.

"If we're there, at least we're there" he said "What's the going like on the way? Remember it is unknown territory to me and to my men."

"It should pose no difficulties; much of the terrain is good to firm" said Voltan. "We can, too, afford to take it relatively slow; there are a few uneven places but not many. I've had it trampled almost to a road for our convenience; no time for proper road building but passage of men in mostly dry conditions have helped. It be wide enough a way for ten abreast with comfort."

Kopiek nodded again.

"You are well prepared; and ready to change your plan to account for circumstance" he said "I do not dispute your lead here where you know both territory and the foe."

"My thanks, Lord Kopiek" said Voltan, appreciating that in most conditions, the Precentor Martial would expect to take overall control of his army. Ceding command to the local lord was a concession.

Some of his knights were resentful that their commander should cede command, indeed resentful that they had been dragged from sleep for a night ride in unknown conditions by some upstart northern baron; but their mutterings died away as Kopiek snapped,

"ENOUGH! We follow Lord Voltan; for he has fought these barbarians many times; as I have not, and I wager none but a handful of you have done."

"I'd like that handful to be ready to stand forward and advise their fellows what they will face, an it please you, Lord Preceptor" said Voltan crisply "That you will then hopefully NOT lose over enthusiastic young fools who charge off following what look to be a retreat and turns instead into an ambush; the barbarian's favourite way of defeating over trained heavy cavalry."

"Point well taken" said Kopiek "Those of you who have fought northerners, step forward – Dear God, is that ALL?"

It was just three men.

"Heh" said Voltan "Then I'll advise the lot of you; and suggest instead that you three be the Precentor's personal bodyguard and read for him the situation that he may give better orders for it. Listen up; dismiss any thoughts from your minds, those that think such, that this will be a situation of cavalry on cavalry wherein for your superior training and amour you will find it an easy fight. The barbarians look upon their horses as a means to give them speed; they are reliant on mobility. Their horses are light; they do not use the weight of the horse to meet a man head to head as you be used to. They may be looked upon as akin to wolves, wherein the pack is made up of individuals that harry and snap at the heels of a herd of prey animals, skilfully separating one or two from their fellows that may then be cut down with ease. Do not discount either their bows; which have not the range or power of our longbowmen but which have more range than a crossbow and which they fire with practised ease from horseback. Their bows are made from horn and have greater power than a wooden bow the same size; as many have found to their cost. This is why we must needs break them up and force them into a situation where they must stand to fight man to man, rather than ride, slash, retire and come in again. Hold your lines. Remember, they want to separate the weaker members of the herd. They will invite champions to leave the lines for single combat – in which too they delight for it is dear to their gods – and hope their speed will defeat the heavy and cumbersome armour of a knight. A knight is one of a unit; trust in your comrades and in God – in that precise order – and hold your lines, each man part of the greater whole however much they taunt you. Oh, one more thing" Voltan added "My page Florian came up with a rhyme he made up about one of their gods which I repeat for your amusement and which may help you when they try to make you fear them. It goes,

The god Thor rode off to war

All on his spotted filly

'I'm Thor' he cried: the horse replied

'You forgot your thaddle, thilly'."

The warlord's own men roared with laughter and after a moment some of the knights chuckled too. Some muttered about coarse and uncouth marchers who were little better than barbarians themselves; and Voltan ignored them. The north was a rough place; rough jests had their place and helped relax his men. If the knights would not be relaxed, that was their problem.

"It's the weight of their helmets" murmured Annis "Such outsize ones, takes a while for a thought to sink in. Goes with all the soft living they do in the south that saps the brains."

The army mobilised; and the front ranks had almost reached the raised bridge over the river when a horse could be heard galloping on the other side of the river.

"Drop the bridge! I've a message for Lord Voltan!" cried the messenger as he careered towards where the end of the bridge would touch on the far side.

"HOLA, RENN! I be here!" called Voltan. "They are dropping the bridge; catch your breath man, and be ready to come across"

The bridge lowered and Renn rode over.

"I'm stationed at the falls tower" he explained without preamble "We saw armour in the setting sun; we raised the flag but saw not one raise on the next tower so I rode over to them lest the barbarians see a blaze, an we set one, against the dark eastern sky, that might make them try to take our position that would spoil your whole plan, My Lord; and it seemed that the second tower's watchpost was set that our flag was between them and the setting sun, that they saw it not. They kindled a beacon straightway that message might come faster and I rode as fast as I might to deliver more detailed message."

"Report" said Voltan.

"They seemed to us to be setting camp in the foothills beyond the bluffs where the ground starts to rise towards the Eastern Spine Mountains" said Renn "Myself I'd have pushed my men on harder to camp nearer the ford to cross at dawn; but they seemed to be in no very great hurry. I still think they might try to cross it early and break their fast this side; they're camped about an hour's ride from the ford barbarian pace, or half a day's journey church knight pace."

There was muttering over that.

"No comparisons please; Renn meant none such" said Voltan "Else he had used a less neutral word than 'journey'. Neither way is right – or wrong. The tactical movement is different. I take it you mean at a gallop, Renn; methinks I know the place you describe that they have chosen to camp and it is defensible. This is good. Lord Kopiek, we may have a little more time than I had feared; I disagree with Renn for methinks it will make sense to them to break fast in a good camp and spend the morning crossing the ford at their leisure; and once over the bluffs and the more uncertain of the folded ground there then be a straight gallop over the heath, that they would be at our gates in the afternoon, having gone at speed over the parts we commonly patrol most, and gallopped on their approach as they like to do."

Kopiek nodded.

"Just how folded is this folded ground?" he said.

Voltan grinned.

"I LIKE the way you think" he said "Your knights won't much like fighting on foot."

"They don't have to LIKE it" said Kopiek calmly "They are sworn to poverty and obedience; and must therefore obey the will of God; and right now I'm His spokesman and I interpret that His will is dictated by the fortuitous arrangement of good tactical ground."

"Well, God the tactician is one I've never heard of before" chuckled Voltan "But I approve!"

"Brother, would you like me to ride on with a small body of men to the tower and keep Gort held back as well as gauging when exactly you want the flood?" asked Hawk.

"Aye, brother; an you will" said Voltan "And a good idea of yours. Gort is a useful man but impulsive. Once we've sprung Kopiek's second little surprise, you may let him and your men go, for to fall on their rear would be a handy move."

Hawk nodded.

"On it" he said.

"Hawk" said Voltan

"Yes?"

"It takes a great man to wait and watch before he commits" said Voltan "And to watch in frustration as the battle rages until it be his moment. I want you to know I appreciate that."

Hawk grinned.

"Thanks, brother mine" he said "And it be a great man who knows when to direct each section to commit. Will you wind your horn for the deluge?"

Voltan shook his head.

"I leave the timing to you; your view of things will be better. You know as well as I do when the best time will be. I'd appreciate a wave to warn me."

Hawk nodded; and the brothers touched clenched fists, then Hawk was beckoning half a dozen men and they were clattering across the bridge and were soon lost in the darkness.

Voltan's men interspersed the knights, a few ahead of every thirty or so knights to help them with the terrain, and Kopiek set up a more tactical pace than the usual speed of travel. Which, as Annis muttered to Voltan was just as well, else a journey that took normally two to three hours ride would take as many days.

Voltan rode with Kopiek to cover the terrain and the warlord indicated where the best result flood was like to come. The full moon shone brightly as it swung towards the west and illuminated the river in a sparkling ribbon that had a serene, benign beauty at odds with the designs Voltan had for it.

"So far!" gasped the Precentor shocked. "You really think….yes, of course, you have calculated the volume of water I know….. will those that cross ride straight on, think you, or wait until all are across before assembling up again?"

"They'll wait a while at least" said Voltan "You think we should risk lying down behind this first ridge to rise and fire when all is confusion?"

"Yes" said Kopiek "And if they be coming forward without waiting much, our rising will drive them back into the drowning zone and perchance draw others forward earlier than they would otherwise do an they have but little discipline; as will increase the casualties by the river's force."

Voltan nodded.

"It IS what it is about" he said "Increasing enemy casualties and reducing our own. It's something you can never explain to sentimentalists that believe that all killing is wrong as a matter of course and would rather see us take casualties as punishment for our wicked warlike ways than the poor benighted heathen. And if they'd seen their mothers and sisters raped and their fathers and brothers butchered and had all their food stolen as so many up here have they'd sing another song I wager" he added grimly.

"You're preaching to the converted" said Kopiek dryly "Oh I know the types of idiot you mean; and they are always the first to run whining to the church knights for protection an THEY be threatened. The 'do something, but don't do anything nasty' brigade. Church knights do war to protect Christendom. War kills people. The idea is to make sure it's somebody else and done efficiently. We'll bring our people up just before dawn; they can break their fast on cold trail rations and pray Lauds in the silence of their hearts at one and the same time."

Voltan grinned.

"That's the sort of practical worship I like" he said.

The barbarian horde noted the watchtower and laughed audibly as the red flag was hoisted – deliberately clumsily – as they approached the ford. Voltan, from his place of concealment could see Hawk atop the tower. Hawk half raised his hand in acknowledgement that he too saw his brother; and Voltan, careful to keep the member behind the rise, waved back.

He peered cautiously over the crest and dropped back quickly.

"Hell's teeth, there's about twice our number of them out there – and that's counting the church knights!" he muttered to Kopiek.

"Yes; but we have God on our side and more to the point a very good plan" said Kopiek calmly.

Voltan grinned.

"That we have" he said "And a solid command too between us methinks."

The men had had the chance to be well rested that they be fresh; the more seasoned campaigners had wrapped themselves in their cloaks and dozed until dawn. This was all of Voltan's men and a few of the knights; most of the latter were uncomfortably cold in their enveloping armour in the chill February night. That they must then move up slowly and lie flat without a chance to move about to warm up was not popular; but as Kopiek said, moving about enough to attract the enemy's attention might leave many more of them much, much colder on a permanent basis.

Kopiek was not immune to the cold.

"I'll see about issuing the ones who come north to you with chainmail" he said quietly to Voltan "Your men seem used to this sort of thing and to suffer less in lighter armour; so I'm guessing my lads will learn too; but this armour seems impractical for the sort of warfare we employ here."

Voltan shrugged.

"Have them come with the conventional armour too; sometimes a charge of fully armoured knights carries the day. Moreover burnishing it will keep them too busy to grumble and to prance around and give displays will be good for their morale. But for now, I can't say I'm that sorry that they be cold and miserable; some of them need the bounce and arrogance taken out of them."

Kopiek gave a rueful grin whilst reflecting again that Voltan had an instinct for man management.

"Well they said you be a forthright man, Lord Voltan" he said "They are, many of them, young, idealistic and convinced they are the best warriors in the world. I fear that today some may not live to learn that a little humility can be becoming."

"Keep 'em close doing what they do best; and your losses should be minimal" grunted Voltan. "Ah, I hear the enemy on the move; Florian, do you wriggle along the lines to tell everyone to stand by then scoot back to the rear and guard Annis."

"Yes My Lord!" said the young prince with alacrity.

Kopiek gave a brief gasp.

"Voltan, you page! That's the CROWN PRINCE!" he hisses in shocked whisper, suddenly recognising Florian.

"I won't tell anyone if you don't" said Voltan "The boy won't learn any younger. He ran away from home and was lucky enough to fall in with me. I took him in. He'll be a king to be proud of one day, that lad. If he were king tomorrow I'd bend the knee to him; he's more a man than any of the effete fools in the capital, indeed more so than all of them put together!"

"I'll pretend I didn't half interpret that as near treason" said Kopiek. Voltan shrugged.

"I'd fight for the kingdom as an abstract ideal; and as that boy loves his father I'd probably go out of my way to protect the idiot, if only to give Florian a bit more childhood before he must be king. But what have the court to do with marchers?"

Kopiek had not answer to that.

And besides he had good excuse to give none; the first barbarians were approaching the ford.

The barbarians started crossing the ford, then milled around. They walked their horses to keep them from chilling; but as Voltan had guessed did not expend energy coming up the slight rise before it was necessary.

The warlord's eyes were fixed on Hawk.

Hawk and he were so very much in tune with each other now he knew without having to discuss it that Hawk would signal soon enough an any barbarians made the attempt to breast the rise; and he knew Hawk would find a way to let him know as surely as he knew his own name. They had that closeness back that permitted each to divine the very thoughts and actins of each other that even when they were at war had allowed each an insight into the other.

It warmed Voltan to know how close they were.

Then Hawk was looking down at Voltan an d miming blowing a horn. The warlord lifted his great horn to his lips and blew the loud 'Wah-sah-hooh' sound that brought the knights and Voltan's men to their feet in one fluid movement, firing as soon as they had acquired a target. Voltan's men worked in pairs, one man kneeling to reload and passing up loaded crossbows to his fellow; a faster rate of fire than could be achieved with each man stopping to reload his own weapon, especially as each pair had four crossbows against any mishap. The best shots fired and their fellows would form a spear line too an the archers were threatened. Voltan had fielded almost all the hundred or so men he commanded; only the wounded, the married and the very young stayed at the catsle under Foregrim, with the armed peasants ready to add to a spirited defence if need be. Voltan had thought to leave Caleb behind, but the big simple man had begged to come and defend Annis. He was a brilliant archer is not quite so effective as the big man Kroll; for Caleb avoided killing an he might. Annis would be utterly safe however under his protection; he would kill for her safety, and die for if need be too. And Voltan had acquiesced therefore to his presence.

The barbarians riding up the rise wavered at the sudden appearance of the troops seemingly from nowhere; they cried out and fell back briefly, and not merely because their front ranks died almost to a man under the murderous, point blank fire.

The cry went up from some barbarian lips that it was the magic of the southern God to magically transport men in from nowhere; and the rear ranks beyond the river started jostling forward and pushing those in front with intent to be quicker to cross the ford and get at those who were menacing their fellows.

It could not have been better. Soon all was a confused mass at the river as Voltan's forces fell back, as previously ordered, to form squares of spears around the best archers; the church knights were using their more sophisticated pole arms to copy as well they might on Kopiek's orders. They had had some chance to practice and at least were disciplined troops to start with. And it should not be needed for long. Voltan lanced up at Hawk, who waved and whistled to Gort.

Voltan watched.

Nothing seemed to be happening.

Had the dam not broken? Was it indeed too much even for the formidable Gort?

Such questions raised themselves inevitably!


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Voltan started to taste the bitter gall of a failed plan in his mouth and grimly thought that now he must sell his life dearly, in hopes that the discipline of his men and the knights would be enough to at least halt the advance of the horde even if they all died for it.

And then suddenly there was a roar like some unchained animal of monstrous proportions, that heralded a great wave, seething, foaming and roiling along the river bed, some ten feet high and carrying behind it a flood that appeared to the awed onlookers to be of quite Biblical proportions, engulfing everything in its path, an unstoppable juggernaut of destruction.

"YES!" yelled Voltan, as much in relief as anything else! From bitter disappointment, he had found exultation that all had worked perfectly, more than perfectly, that the wave was even bigger than he had hoped!

The barbarians screamed in terror in the valley as the gigantic wave bore inexorably down on them; and it was hard to tell which were the screams of men and which their horses in the confusion that beset them as the deluge engulfed and carried them before it. The sound was horrendous; the water roared like a living thing and the despairing screams of the men and horses were all but drowned by its voice as surely as they were drowned in the force of the onrushing waters; and intermittently there were thunderclaps of sound as the wave broke in various places against the rise of the bluffs. Sullen muddy trickles ran right over the edge and wet the feet of the knights and Voltan's men; and from their ranks was utter silence, not so much the silence of discipline as the stunned silence of absolute shock.

Many crossed themselves.

"Dear God" whispered Kopiek.

"He gave us the brains to devise such" said Voltan soberly. "Though I confess I had not the wit nor imagination to picture just HOW successful it would be."

As the waters cleared the carnage became obvious. The barbarian horde had almost all been swept clean away. The ones on the near bank were quickly cut down by the church knights when someone moved and broke the spell of awe that had held them all immobilised; the few who had not managed to reach the ford and were on high enough ground to save themselves stared in awed terror at the scene. Drowned men and horses littered the bed of the river; some few who had fought the water and saved themselves had for the most part been carried downstream and were likely to be disoriented and in shock. They might be left to go home an they fetched up on the further bank; or, to continue to make the point, killed by Voltan's men at their leisure; and like as not, any that got as far downstream as to be near the next isolated hamlet would find themselves killed with as little mercy as the barbarians themselves showed by villagers willing to get a little pay back, and to take any possessions still on the bodies of the half drowned foemen. Voltan could not begin to estimate how many had been carried away; but those on the far bank were but a pitiful few in comparison to the horde that had approached and were scarce worth bothering about for the damage to morale had to be a great blow.

Voltan seemed alone in his opinion that the ones across the river were not worth troubling with.

Hawk and Gort led their men down to harry those left on the far side; or rather, Gort charged and Hawk led the rest of the men in more or less good order to back him up. The church knights began to quickly get to horse as those left as the strategic reserve brought the horses forward. The river ran deeper than usual even now, but the horses of the knights were destriers and were big and strong, and might breast the unquiet river with ease in the wedge-shaped charge for which the knights were famous.

Voltan's men set off instead downstream to kill any that had survived to land on this side.

"You brothers know how to run a good battle" said Kopiek in approval as the knights sat in temporary camp to eat a hastily prepared hot meal while Annis attended such few as were wounded. She was delighted to find that her work was barely needed; the double surprise had been so great that the knights and Voltan's men had had the upper hand from the very outset and the barbarians had been too shocked to employ their vicious short bows.

The main casualties had been those who had got over excited and had put themselves unnecessarily into harm's way; and the one unfortunate knight who, having taken a blow to the helmet that jammed his visor, tripped over a tree root and broke his leg. He was in for a lot of teasing; but was thankful to be alive, for he knew well enough that had the deluge not come when it had and shocked the barbarians near him into turning, he would have been killed where he lay. He had taken advantage of the confusion to crawl amongst the legs of his own fellows and gave thanks for the same.

The success of the dam strategy had indeed left most of the church knights stunned and not a little subdued; and Kopiek praised Voltan for it.

"Your use of the folded ground was masterly" said Voltan "And as it was, it were as well some did come forward; the sudden surprise attack lured the rest on. I never hoped to drown more than a third of them and hoped we might only have to fight another third ere the rest withdrew."

"Will you then set the dam up again?" asked Kopiek.

"Too right I shall!" said Voltan forcibly "With a crane that needs not Gort's immense strength to pull the wedge; for it be a waste that he be posted their permanently; and besides I want to rotate the watch tower soldiery that they not become stale for boredom."

"And the food was sparse and indifferently cooked that I'd not want to be posted there full time!" laughed Gort "Though of course, I'll help rebuild the damn."

"My thanks for that" said Voltan "It went well. I see you got some action?" he indicated the bandage on Gort's arm, for he had been one of the few that Annis had been patching up.

The giant grinned.

"Any lesser healer than Annis might have lost me the full use of my hand; and right glad am I you brought her in the end" he said "She's stitched the tendon back where it was all but severed using its own sinews. And though I fear this left hand may never be quite as strong again methinks it will be close when I have it exercised."

"That will teach you to be less impatient and not to wait for me" said Hawk, who had a bandage about his head. "I expect Annis will find you exercises to strengthen it; let her advise you."

"In due course when it be properly healed up" said Annis, tartly, joining the command group. "Bunch of feckless idiots you lot, no more sense than little boys and from what Jehanne have told me, Hawk nearly got killed."

That made Gort look more guilty and sheepish than taking a wound himself.

"We were afraid of missing the fun" the giant said in an unwontedly small voice.

Annis rolled up her eyes in disapproval.

"FUN? This isn't a game, Gort, it's war. The trick is to massacre the enemy without our side taking too many wounds. And there you are, ready to attack enemies sufficiently morally defeated that they'd likely run away left to themselves, that when attacked they must needs fight like cornered rats. There's no sense in it! Fun? HAH!"

"We stand rebuked" said Hawk, who had followed Gort's charge only to protect his friend's rear and had not, in fact, been meaning to sortie at all as it seemed unnecessary. At least Jehanne had obeyed him when he ordered her to stay back!

Annis smiled at him, letting him see that she knew this very well.

"Jehanne will see to your cut head very well I expect" she said demurely.

"She'll fuss like a mother hen" said Hawk.

"That's what I said" said Annis, winking at Jehanne.

Jehanne managed a smile back.

The release of the water seen from above had been terrifying; a seething torrent that went from calm, confined reservoir to something completely out of control that no man had a chance to stand against. Engineering was a formidable weapon of war and the girl was still coming to terms with it. The idea of planning and using terrain that one's own troops be in but minmal danger was a good one of course; but the very level of destruction was frightening!

Kopiek had meanwhile informed Lyall that he was to command a force here as under-Precentor of his own small chapter house; and Lyall was thrilled. Kopiek advised that he pick all volunteers to serve under him; and the young man was busy asking those he felt suitable.

He had a few refusals; unlike other monastic orders the church knights were both permitted, and indeed encouraged, to marry. And those who were married men did not feel it fair to ask their wives to live in the benighted north.

Lyall commented on this, rather sadly, to Hawk; and Hawk shrugged.

"If their wives would not cope and adapt we don't really want men who are forever worrying about such poor creatures do we?" he said "Thos who have capable wives will come; or those yet unmarried who will hopefully take capable wives from local women. As you might yourself, you know" he added.

Lyall grinned.

"Only an I might have one that rides into battle with me like Lady Annis; Voltan got lucky with her!" said Lyall.

"He did indeed" said Hawk "And glad am I it worked out so well between them both. And, my friend, it were YOUR comments about his manner, when we besieged him, as you saw him with fresh eyes, that helped me to be objective when I had to be, because of the changes she had wrought in him."

"Has she got any more sisters?" asked Lyall hopefully.

"Dozens I expect" said Hawk dryly "Peter Haldane has boundless energy and no sense nor discrimination."

Lyall grinned; and Hawk chuckled.

There was no guarantee that any sister of Annis would have her brave, merry temperament; even as the one Voltan had crucified had been the very opposite of her sister. It would, however, do Lyall no harm to look; though Hawk planned to remind him of the evil woman who would trick children into slavery. Similar looks were no guarantee of similar temperament! However, it was not impossible that Lyall would find a woman to suit him once word got around that Voltan was ready to take female warriors; plenty of orphaned girls without any other chance to make a living save marriage or prostitution would welcome that, and maybe young widows too, ready to learn to defend themselves against brigands. Even if they learned only to man defences, it would free up men to man the watchtowers and ride on patrol; and Hawk could see why his brother did not despise the use of any who was ready to fight.

Once Lyall had picked his fifty men, twenty knights and thirty footmen, the church knights of the main body started the long trek back to their cathedral city at the pace naughty Jehanne described as 'hobble, amble, moan, stop'; and those remaining set to, to build a chapter house.

Voltan's men, meanwhile, also set to work to turn the tower above the gorge into a stone fortress as well as rebuilding the dam.

It might not be needed for long years; few enough of the remnant of the barbarians had escaped the final charge of the church knights and that effectively accounted for the men of an entire generation of that tribe, or nation, of barbarians.

Voltan was not about to rest on his laurels, and maintained regular patrols as well as his building works; and after a number of weeks, as the spring planting went ahead, one patrol brought in a small group of people who had the distinctive red hair and flattish features of the barbarians, tall and proud.

"These people asked to be brought to you, My Lord" said Ralph.

Voltan regarded them narrowly.

"Two of you I recognise" he said "You lad, are the one who had the cut arm in the raid; your friend had a wounded face that my wife treated. You made certain oaths as I recall regarding his survival."

"Yes Lord; and I swore that if Jagiz recovered I should worship your God, and I have not gone back on that, ignorant though I am of His worship" said the younger man . "That when he was sensible enough after the delirium of pain that I might tell him all that had occurred he too determined to worship your God too. He was not fit enough to ride with the Horde, and I rode in the rear group only as a reserve and saw all that occurred. I had pressed forward and was swept downriver and returned with the tale of what terrible things had happened. With such mighty magic, Jagiz and I resolved to come and pledge loyalty to you who have men with magic swords and who can bring troops out of nowhere and even command the river."

"What is YOUR name?" asked Voltan.

"I am Kegdai" said the youth.

"Well, Kegdai; and Jagiz; and those of your family as you have brought" said Voltan "I would not have you or any man begin service to me under false beliefs. My brother wields a magical sword; and it is my belief that God gave us the brains and the ideas to devise the other effects. For troops did not come out of nowhere; men but lay concealed in the ground until my brother gave signal that the approach was imminent; and then we rose as a body from where we lay flat. And the river, I stopped up in the gorge by a construct of stone; and collected behind it water to loose upon your people. For I was sick and tired of being on the defensive against raiders. My father's castle was taken long since; I'll not lose mine."

"They lay still until our men almost rode over them? What inhuman fortitude to lie thus and wait!" gasped Jagiz "It is hard to believe!"

"That you know how to control the waters prove you a great man and capable of something we cannot explain save by wizardry" said Kegdai "And even an it not be the doing of your God, surely he would not permit you to take such liberties with nature an he disapprove! I think I speak for Jagiz when I say you must be a very great man indeed that you have the confidence not to seek to pretend supernatural aid; and that is the more impressive."

Jagiz nodded.

"Your wife saved my life" he said "It is right then that I should place my life at her, and your, disposal; and my wife Chabee wishes to learn from her an that be permitted."

"Annis will be delighted to have another apprentice" said Voltan nodding to the adult woman and giving her a reassuring smile "Are all the children yours?"

"No lord; only the four here, my son Jagtai and my little girls, Oelun, Kulan and Itesseg" said Jagiz.

"These others are my younger siblings" said Kegdai "My sister Torrigen, who grieves her husband-to-be whom we hoped might have survived the flood too, that we waited a while in hopes that he might return; though she rejoiced to see me, her brother return that at least she have not lost all her male protectors. My brother Kassar is not yet old enough to be a warrior but hates to admit that we are defeated; and these three younger ones, my sisters Terkenkha and Altai; and my brother Yisugei. Our mother died birthing him" he indicated a child of some four or five years old.

Voltan nodded, eyeing Torrigen and Kassar thoughtfully. The girl was about fourteen, the boy a couple of years younger.

"If you swear fealty to me, I will expect you to mean it" he said harshly "If you feel you cannot give me loyalty for the resentments that you feel for my killing of most of my menfolk, say so now! I will see you escorted back to your people in that case. But I will not take on warriors who do not give me total loyalty."

"You look at me too when you speak of warriors; why is that?" asked Torrigen.

"All my womenfolk are given training in how to defend themselves; those who want more, learn more" said Voltan.

"It is not then just because your wife is a noblewoman?" demanded Torrigen.

"It is not: one of my captains is a woman of peasant stock" said Voltan.

"MUST I learn to fight?" put in Chabee, Jagiz' wife.

"You must learn to defend the walls an need be" said Voltan "And your children; and as a healer, your patients. Would you wish to be helpless before invaders when you must fight for your children?"

"I will not have to ride to war, My Lord?" Chabee wanted to know.

"Not at all; and if you are a healer mostly you will be too busy to fight unless you ride at your husband's side to heal those of the unit he is in" said Voltan.

"I want to fight YOU for killing my man" said Torrigen clearly. Kegdai made to shush her but Voltan shook his head and regarded her.

"If you vent your anger fighting with weapons while I face you unarmed – for few men can stand before me armed let alone a maid – will you then submit to my will?" he asked.

She considered this.

"Yes" she said.

"My Lord, I should fight you on her behalf; as I am loath to do for I myself submit willingly" said Kegdai.

"Torrigen? Do you prefer that your brother should be your champion?" asked Voltan. The girl shook her head.

"No; I want to" she said.

"Then we will arm you and shalt release your anger" said Voltan; who knew that after lashing out one often felt much better.

Torrigen faced the warlord with trepidation; then ran in wildly waving the sword she had been given, as she had seen her own menfolk do when fighting.

There was a pain in her arm; her hand opened and the sword flew from her and landed with a clatter.

"Give her a short stabbing sword" said Voltan "The sword of her people is too unwieldy for a half grown untrained lass such as she be."

The second sword was half the length to of the traditional blade of her people; and was easier to hold for being lighter.

She tried again, with the same attempt to slash with her sword; and again found the blow blocked on a wrist like an iron shield boss. This time however she managed to hold on to the sword.

"Good" said Voltan "You fought to keep your weapon. But with such a sword you should come in low and attempt to stab, thus" and his hand, fingers stiff, poked painfully into her midriff. She gasped in pain and blinked at sudden hot tears.

"Were that a sword or even a knife, not my hand, even Annis had not been able to save you" said Voltan "Your spirit is good but you need much training; an you decide to give me fealty, shalt work with my wife's sister."

Torrigen tried to come in low towards the warlord's belly as he had suggested; and felt the point catch fractionally on something as a hand with strength like steel caught her wrist and bore her hand inexorably down.

"You have drawn some blood through heeding my lesson; but I have stopped you three times. Will you yield to my will?" asked Voltan.

He was compelling; a man that it was hard to deny.

Torrigen dropped the sword and her eyes filled with tears – tears of pain as much as of grief – and nodded.

"I so submit, My Lord" she said "Tungri was a warrior; warriors die."

"Art young; perchance one of my men will yet take thy fancy as the pain of the loss dulls" said Voltan, not ungently. "It took me ten long years to get over the loss of my first love. But I did; when I found Annis. And that were a more personal anger in the loss, for my brother and I loved the same woman and we fought; and she died because she threw herself between us. Hating is not comfortable. If you still hate me, shouldst talk about it; for that too heals."

"I do not hate you" said Torrigen "I thought I did; but you are a generous victor, Lord. I give fealty."

Voltan turned to Kassar.

"And you, boy?"

"You fight in a way, even unarmed, that would defeat any man I know" said Kassar "I – I think that my people were not disgraced that you proved the victor."

"It takes a big man to admit that, lad" said Voltan "Come, boy; shake upon your fealty" and he held out a hand.

Kassar grasped his wrist.

"I give ready fealty to so mighty a warrior who is mighty of himself as well as at cunning to deal such blows as controlling rivers" he said.

Voltan heaved an unseen and unheard sigh of relief. It was common enough amongst the barbarians that leadership and other disputes be settled by feats of arms and deaths not held personal; and the boy acknowledged a winner. The girl was more complex, as women always are; and somehow he could not see Annis putting anger behind her. Still, Annis would not have come with a brother, preferring no doubt to raise an army. Still, Voltan hoped this girl would be young enough that her youth give her a resilience that would make her look beyond the loss of a husband to be; that was likely her father's choice in any case. And the northmen – or women – did not lie, and nor did they take the oath lightly.

He could not, in conscience, have easily sent either one of the youngsters back; but having one who harboured hatred for him in their heart would have been a nervous business.

The even younger ones might hate him at the moment; but so long as he did nothing to increase that, they would find it fading as other things caught their interest and as they found themselves more and more beholden to him as their overlord.

He assigned the two men to different companies; and set Torrigen and Kassar to learn with the other pages, as he planned to do with the children of his own men when they got around to having any.

And one day, if Kassar came to love him as his overlord as well as merely giving him fealty and respect, the boy would be the perfect vehicle to have as lord over any barbarians he and Hawk would conquer, helping to bring them to civilisation and reverse the losses to the kingdom's borders.

The future had good hopes to it.

And that would not stop him having men assigned to watch these new barbarian troops of his in case of treachery; and Jehanne and Florian to watch Torrigen and Kassar.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

The brightly clad herald, who was a slender and elegant figure, who had arrived at the castle with his escort bowed floridly to present a document to Voltan. It was covered in extravagant seals with a crown on each of them; and Voltan's eyebrow went up.

"If My Lord requires me to read the letter to him I am instructed to place myself at his disposal" the man fluted in a high pitched voice.

Voltan scowled at him.

"Damn your impudence, boy!" he barked "Art such mincing fools in the south that you think we of the north be as ignorant and unlettered as the barbarians?"

The young man flushed.

"I – well, if you have spent your life fighting the barbarians without respite the king wondered….."

Voltan scowled an even deeper scowl. The Herald quailed.

"Then perchance the king have forgotten that a boy may receive lessons ere he become a man and be old enough to fight; as he knows not how to engage in feats of arms himself perchance he be unaware that one would be a prodigy indeed to be old enough to go to war before one be fourteen or fifteen years of age" he said. "Mine own pages receive full education; I like not these implications" he broke the seal and read; then he growled "And I like even less a man that reveal himself a very fool" and he tossed the document to Annis.

Annis read it through swiftly to the obvious surprise of the herald.

"What, My Lord, your lady wife reads too?"

"God's bollocks, what sort of idea do you have of us?" roared Voltan. "Of course My Lady wife reads! Aye, and I make no doubt that she reads Latin better nor you too! I will pen reply to this insult when I have made myself come back into a douce mood; shalt go with Lukat who will find you ale and refreshment."

"But My Lord!" wailed the herald "I am not to take written reply but to ride with you!"

"Indeed? If the king thinks I will submit to having my castle wrested from me by the lawless elements that I still combat, that lay low ONLY because they fear my name and presence, to go visit him for some pointless reason, he can think again!" roared Voltan "Now get out you mincing fool ere I flog you for your insolence!"

"But you cannot! I am a herald…"

"BUT YOU IRRITATE ME!" howled Voltan, starting to reach for his belt buckle.

The herald fled and the piping voice of Lukat might be hear telling him that girls in the capital might be ignorant but that here there was a high standard expected, like his friend Sylvia who was also seven and who also read Latin of course.

This unconscious put down restored Voltan to some better humour.

"How much of that temper was pretence, My Lord?" asked Annis equably.

"About half" said Voltan. "If I can maintain the fearsome pose I shan't get this idiot king sending an army to enforce his stupid request.

"I advise" said Annis "That when you pen reply to so peremptory a summons to come and receive honours that you do NOT use the phrase 'you've taken leave of your senses you royal idiot'."

Voltan grinned.

"Tempting as it is" he grunted "Here, Florian, get parchment. By the by, do you want to return to your father as he hints you should do in my train and then to stay? I wish I'd not given Cordo permission to discuss your whereabouts now."

Florian shook his head, pulling a face.

"I can't go back now; I'm learning too much!" he said "Besides, it's nice having people that treat you like family; and feeling that you belong somewhere."

"Your father's an ass" said Voltan, tweaking the boy's ear gently. "Thou shalt write thine own letter and tell thy royal father so. Annis, let the lad see the letter."

Annis passed the child the document. He read it through and winced once or twice.

"This would irritate as douce a man as ever lived, My Lord!" he admitted "Methinks my father asked a secretary to pen a letter requesting your presence and just signed it. He is not so well versed in literacy himself that letter writing be anything but a chore for him. And by the way, most ladies at court CAN'T read, Lady Annis; let alone in Latin."

Voltan snorted.

"Perchance I should add insult to any injury I write and pen mine in Latin; it is a language one should suppose any educated man such as one of high degree should read. Then he'll need to have Cordo read it which will have that prelate wondering what have made me less than douce, that he sort it out and explain to the king in words of one syllable just how many ways he's managed to insult me. Let me see, how about this for the basic form…." He read out loud as he wrote out his thoughts. 

_"'I fear your majesty has been ill advised as to the situation in the north, that even after the famous victory over one of the many tribes of barbarians I must decline what I suspect you meant as a flattering invitation not, as it were worded, a summons; else during my time at your court your realm is like to shrink by the size of my demesnes and those immediately to the south where dwell my rather less able neighbours. I would further mediate that your majesty might consider not making use of secretaries that can make an invitation to come to be given recognition sound like a summons to execution; there is such a thing as felicity of style that we of the north, who enjoy a good education consider necessary to avoid insulting our correspondents. Perchance the level of education in the south is inferior since I am given to understand your women do not read even their own tongue, let alone Latin. I shall of course, in a few years time, when the situation is more stable, be delighted to sample your generous hospitality'_ – by which time with luck he'll have forgotten all about it" he added

" – _Or perchance it may be safe enough for your majesty to make royal progress and see the northern part of your realm at the hospitality of your marcher lords. I enclose a letter written by the hand of your royal son who proves a most able protégé and for whom, of course, I care as tenderly as though he were mine own son. I abide by his request that he stay on and continue his education in my halls; it is after all normal for a page to serve several years with his mentor, else he cannot be expected to be properly prepared. I recommend that when he is of an age, he should serve a partial novitiate with the church knights; either in Ernbridge or in the chapter house we have here. It will give him different insights. Trusting to find your majesty in excellent health etc etc."_

"Can you translate all that into Latin?" asked Annis.

"Probably" said Voltan "Actually it is a little petty to do that anyway; let this stand as the letter" and he signed with a flourish.

Florian scribbled industriously and passed Voltan what he had written.

"Will you check that for me, My Lord?" he asked.

"It is a private note from a son to a father!" said Voltan "I like not to pry!"

"I would prefer that you read it" said Florian "And see that I have not overstepped the mark for being used to your kind guidance and the liberties of speech that I be permitted."

"Your father must be a tyrant then as well as a fool" said Voltan "I am not, methinks, so douce a master to you!"

"Oh it is that I be reproved for ill usage of language or discourtesy when I am what you would describe as direct" shrugged Florian.

"Heh, he'll not like my style then; and I'll not change it for him so he'll have to put up with it" said Voltan. "That's as circumspect as I ever get" and he read out

"_Most honoured father and majesty; before I make any personal greeting to you, dread sir, might I say that I have read your letter to Lord Voltan that has been penned most unhandily that it cast him into a rage until I explained to him that such peremptory and rudely expressed sentiments had come from the pen of another, that you, sire, knowing what you meant to say, did not read amiss as any that receive such a letter might do. Might I say that Lord Voltan and his brother, though Lord Hawk is no warlord but a name almost as feared by evil doers that may aid Lord Voltan, are what hold this country together; and it is fear of Lord Voltan's justice that keeps brigandage at a minimum as well as keeping back most of the barbarians. I should fear to be in this castle an it became known that Lord Voltan was absent for any time; for such would encourage bold villains in daring raids that might only be repulsed with some difficulty. And in light of so mean a letter as you have sent him I should feel honour bound to offer myself to remain as a hostage to My Lord's safety an he had felt that obedience to your letter overweighed obedience to your majesty's best interests. I fully intend, in any case, dread sir, to remain where I might best learn; whilst I appreciate your concerns I am in the best of health and becoming daily more cognisant of tactical and strategic planning that when I be grown I shall be able to employ this knowledge against the barbarians to take back what has been lost of your realm. My respects to my stepmother the queen and all my good wishes for your good health.'"_

Voltan snorted

"Sounds not like a letter from a boy to his father but from one to an overlord he scarce knows" he said "Your father has wasted every opportunity to give you his time and affection methinks; and I despise him for it, I have to say."

"My Lord; I love my father because he is my father; but oh Lord Voltan, I do love you more!" said Florian.

Voltan held out an arm for him and the child ran to him for unknown caresses.

"Poor old Florian" said Annis "We'll be family to you. My Lord" she added "You should write also to Alessandro Cordo and ask him what the devil ails the king to write so foolish an epistle."

"Aye; and to him I can couch it in as many words" said Voltan "And that I SHALL write in Latin" he added; and proceeded to do so, with Annis hanging over his shoulder and making suggestions where the warlord's Latin faltered.

"Run thee, Florian, for that fool herald" said Voltan. "And try not to bait him too much."

"Why not, My Lord? You did."

"Aye; and mine estate as thy lord gives me that privilege" said Voltan "I want some fun out of the whelp methinks!"

Florian giggled.

oOoOo

"Here, herald, is my letter to the king; that as people of the capital seem to expect limited education in nobles I authorise you to read aloud to him an he desire it" said Voltan "It encloses too a letter from his son, whose good health you can testify to; and his verbal declaration, no doubt, that he intends to stay here to complete his indentures as a page. Here too is a letter for Cardinal Alessandro Cordo who have no difficulty reading so I do not authorise you to do so. It is moreover in Latin so few people would have much joy an they broke the seals covertly."

"My Lord! Do you so accuse me?" demanded the herald.

"My dear boy, I accuse you not of a dishonesty that doth not become a herald; but with an overweening innocence that might be bamboozled into naively permitting others access who would be less honest" said Voltan maliciously. "As Florian has explained that his father's secretary's style is so poor that one may misread its intent I am of course much pacified; but still I send you back without me for the king will not thank me for abandoning some of his lands to beoverrun by barbarians, brigands and banditry."

"But – but My Lord! The Precentor Martial reported a great victory!" quavered the herald.

"Aye; over ONE tribe; only four thousand of them. A minority. ONE group of barbarians. It may be enough to keep the other barbarians back for a few years out of fear; alternatively, it could make more tribes band together to try to dislodge me. And even if they do NOT, it be nothing against the bands of brigands and thieves that range in warbands of hundreds. While I am here, boy, they do not dare approach. An I went south for weeks on end I'd return to a smoking ruin, our crops trampled, the women and girls raped and others carried off or killed and the men slaughtered. Boy, you came with an escort of two dozen armed men, presumably at the recommendation of the Precentor, not to give you consequence but to give you a chance of reaching me alive with your message. Ah, I see finally the concept is beginning to sink in."

The herald had paled.

"Y-yes, My Lord" he said

"Florian; show this youth the brigands we hung last week" said Voltan "Now we have to deal with so much less brigandage."

"Yes, My Lord" said Florian. "Prithee, herald, accompany me; some fifteen are hanged without, that be about two thirds of those taken last week, that some of their number be fallen upon and slain whilst in the process of pillage."

The herald did NOT look keen but perforce had to follow Florian.

The lathered messenger arrived that evening; and was glad to have arrived before the herald was to leave in the morning.

He was a rough and ready fellow and when he was shown into Voltan's presence at the meal bowed perfunctorily.

"I'm from Monseigneur Cordo, My Lord" he said laconically.

Voltan passed him a goblet of ale and the man slopped it down thankfully.

"Speak" said Voltan.

"The Cardinal said to tell you that the king sent a message couched in terms he did not really mean" said the messenger "And to beg you to return douce letter to his majesty, explaining the circumstances that the cardinal have told his majesty now the position here in the north, Monseigneur Cordo having learned much from speech with your men when he was your guest that he have been able to put the king right on various misconceptions that he ask you to confirm and affirm when you write."

"Should I rewrite, think you, my dear?" Voltan asked Annis.

She frowned.

"No. Let his majesty know that you were offended; a king should not go out of his way to push his lords too far, especially Marcher Lords" she said "He owes this whole corner of his kingdom to you; let him not forget that, for feudality goes both ways whether between lord and peasant or king and lord, and you may repeat THAT verbatim, herald. If you can remember it."

"It's my JOB to remember things!" squealed the herald.

"Good; you may report my wife's words that I endorse, for not being able to put it any better" growled Voltan "Good messenger, take your seat and eat and drink your fill."

"Thank you, My Lord" said the messenger. "And right glad I am not to have to dissuade you from at arriving at the capital with an army."

"I haven't got time to risk my lands in order to play with fools" said Voltan. "Besides, he's an old man and I respect his eld and expect that sooner or later I'll get the chance to bend my knee to his son when he inherit. It'd be a waste of effort and would moreover upset the lad; and I'm fond of the brat."

The herald was looking outraged again.

"I shouldn't repeat that verbatim if I were you" said the messenger to him.

The herald gave him a poisonous look.

Lukat managed later to overhear the herald and the messenger talking and reported back gleefully.

"Monseigneur Cordo's man told that pretty boy that if it came down to conflict, the church would support the Falconsburg brothers over the king since at least Lords Voltan and Hawk know what to do with barbarians and brigands as the king do not!" he said, skipping from one foot to the other.

"Perfidious brat" said Voltan, ruffling the child's hair. "Has no-one ever told you that eavesdropping is an unsavoury habit?"

"Any amount, My Lord" grinned Lukat "But I was eavesdropping for My Lord."

"Casuistry" said Voltan "But I'll accept it."

Dawn saw the visitors leaving after breaking their fast, Cordo's messenger host heartily and the herald daintily and with the air of a man who is not normally abroad at such an hour.

As both Voltan and Annis ate heartily with cheerful conversation – which occasionally included Florian too, who ate with the steady concentration only young boys can manage over their viands – the herald looked more and more mournful.

Since Annis had described in some detail the farrowing of the prize sow's sixteen piglings this might have put off a man of even sterner stomach; it certainly turned the herald green.

By the time Voltan had discussed strategies of dealing with a new band of brigands whose leader had a penchant for impaling, the herald had given up and fled, hearing as the last assault on his ears being Annis asking,

"Where's he off to?"

When he had gone the messenger grinned at her.

"My Lady hath a wicked sense of humour" he said.

"So Friday faced a fellow was putting me off my breakfast" said Annis calmly. "He look like a man who have lost a courtesan and have been found by a college of cardinals."

The messenger laughed.

"Methinks his tastes run more in that direction anyway" he said.

"Well then, one who have lost a choirboy and found the vicar's mule" amended Annis.

Several people choked on that one.

"My dear! At BREAKFAST?" said Voltan.

"Mules think it's always breakfast" said Annis inconsequentially. "Dear me! I'm glad I don't have to ride back to the city with him; I fear I'd have been bound to invent ways to make him ill without even resorting to herbs and simples."

"Virago" said Voltan "HAVE you any constructive ideas on the Impaler?"

"Catch him and impale him" said Annis. "What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander after all. Get people out to pick up word on him; then set up some rich merchant to waylay him that happens to be us."

"As good a plan as any" said Voltan. "Ralph, why have we only whispers of him as yet?"

"Because he hasn't dared touch your territory" said Ralph "Even though he DOES have the temerity to call himself 'the second Voltan'."

Voltan's eyes narrowed.

"DOES he now" he said in his softly dangerous voice.

"He doesn't know it yet, but that'll be a 'did he' soon" grinned Elissa "We won't stand for him mocking our lord."

"Quite right" agreed Ralph.

Voltan grinned wolfishly.

"The Impaler is dead" he purred "And soon he's going to discover it."

"And I, My Lord, will report this dangerous fellow to Monseigneur Cordo" said the messenger "Who will tell the king that knows nothing he is not told. And as nine things out of ten he be told are so much soothing tripe he knows very little."

"Thank God for Cardinal Cordo" said Annis.

"Amen!" agreed Voltan.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 **

Neither Hawk nor Jehanne had been present for the incident of the herald, being out of the castle as they were, on patrol. Both Hawk and Voltan liked to patrol for themselves once in a while to keep in tune personally with the local situation; Hawk taking his turn as castellan on those occasions that Voltan rode forth. Hawk went out more often; he felt more confined in a castle than Voltan did. And Jehanne of course always accompanied him.

On this patrol they had just half a dozen soldiers; Hawk's prowess as a warrior meant he could afford to take less than the standard ten man patrol that Voltan felt still essential. Several of the men in this company were in the infirmary sweating and purging themselves at both ends after having cooked and eaten as trail rations a deer they had found already dead, being too lazy to catch their own game; which as Annis had said sternly would teach them that man is a hunter not an eater of carrion. The half dozen who were left had refused to eat the dodgy deer and were consequently rather smug towards their suffering colleagues. One of those present was Jagiz who had settled in very well.

The patrol had reached the furthest extent of the patrol, Hawk having already been making good plans for watchtowers and forts in the direction they had taken; and they were preparing to swing round for home as they came out of light woodland into scrub and furze. Hawk surveyed the skyline; and stiffened as he saw a figure on a horse riding at breakneck speed towards them.

"Sand by" said Hawk "This may be a pursuit of a criminal who flees so precipitately; or it might be one flying from brigands. Alternatively it may be a trap set for us. Loosen your swords and stand ready."

The men and Jehanne did as they were bid. Jehanne peered with strong young eyes.

"The garb is black and white, mostly white; why it looks like a nun on the run!" she said.

"Still thy pert tongue, whelpling, hast no reverence!" said Hawk without conviction, for he was trying not to grin.

"What is this – nun- what does it signify?" asked Jagiz.

"She is a holy woman; nuns are brides of God and lie with no man but devote themselves to prayer and healing and good works" explained Hawk. "Lady Annis was given her initial training in healing by nuns from the nunnery some few miles further on; and indeed, I believe…..yes, it is Sister Barbara from that community!" he raised his voice "SISTER BARBARA!" he called. "OVER HERE!"

The figure looked up; and urged her horse on to gallop over, the white-faced nun pulling the horse to a stop as she reached them.

Hawk was ready to hand his canteen of water to her and she drank gratefully.

"Lord Hawk – how fortunate! God is good that I have fallen in with you!" she said. "I planned to ride to Lord Voltan's castle to beg aid" her eyes filled with tears. Hawk lifted her down from the horse and supported her as she swayed slightly.

"Then tell me about it, sister; and rest a while" he said lowering her onto the cloak that Jehanne rapidly spread on the ground. "Jagiz, do you stand look out lest there be any behind her."

"There is a bold brigand – he calls himself 'the new Voltan'" said Barbara, shuddering "He is a thousand times more monstrous than Lord Voltan at the worst of his raging!"

"And you have seen my brother at his worst; that I must thereore needs believe that you make no exaggeration" said Hawk "What is so terrible about this brigand?"

"He – his – it is his manner" Barbara flushed with a mix of anger and embarrassment "He is coarse and – and casually brutal. Voltan – I would say that Voltan was ever more frightening for his suavity but – but this one sickens" she finished "And he impales those who cross him."

"Ah, we have heard some whispers of this one" said Hawk "Comes he now so close to us? He have grown bold. Methinks my brother and I would be crossing swords with him soon in any case but an he have offended against our friends of the nunnery it were like to be sooner. Especially an he call himself 'the new Voltan' as is like to mislike my brother. It is some specific thing he have done that makes you ride thus at so dangerously breakneck a speed?"

Barbara nodded.

"He decided to emulate in some way Voltan's capture of the Mother Superior; save that he be much less capable than Lord Voltan" she said "He fell upon a village where Pauline and I were healing the sick; and decided it were an omen that he copy the acts – so far as he be able – of Voltan the Dark One. He has Pauline hostage; he would have held me too but – but – she urged me to get away and steal a horse while she distracted him. She is so strong willed! He – he was HITTING her!" her voice was a whisper and tears ran down her cheeks.

"Be of good cheer, Sister Barbara" said Hawk "An he wish to emulate Voltan and keep her as a hostage he will not hurt her badly unless ransom is not paid – and he must deliver a demand and give a deadline. And we shall rescue Pauline first. Were you pursued?"

"I really have no idea" said Barbara candidly "I just rode. Without taking account of anything save the path in front of me and keeping the horse running."

Hawk nodded and patted her sympathetically on the arm.

"Then continue to ride for the castle; shalt moderate thy pace a little for we shall guard your rear. Voltan will send me reinforcements when you have told him all; tell him I deal with any on your trail and go forth to scout. What village?"

"Oakridge" said Barbara.

"Then tell my brother I will meet him at the old well in the grove at sundown; I am certain he knows the place" said Hawk.

Barbara nodded gratefully; and with Hawk's help remounted; and Hawk saw her on her way without bothering to mention to her that Jagiz had raised a hand to indicate he had seen others approaching; and indeed a cloud of dust from their approach might now be discerned. Barbara urged her tired horse to a canter.

Hawk pointed laconically at the cloud of dust.

"Nice place here for an ambush" said Jehanne, brightly.

"These new horsemen might be innocent men and nothing to do with the brigands" said Renn, who was one of the other men with them.

"They might be. I shall ask them" said Hawk cheerfully "Stay hid 'til I give signal."

The rest of the band melted into the bushes at the side of the trail, including Jagiz who was learning how Voltan's men did things by watching the others; Renn led the horses further back and tethered then lightly in a small spinney.

Hawk stood on the trail, hands in plain sight.

Half a dozen riders resolved themselves out of the dust bearing down on Hawk and Jehanne held her breath.

"Out of the way you silly fellow!" bellowed the leader of the troupe "Or you'll be sorry!"

Hawk suspected he had only shouted warning because he was uncertain an his horse would ride a man down or not.

"Were you looking for a nun?" asked Hawk mildly, raising his voice only enough to be heard over the thunder of the oncoming hooves.

The horsemen pulled viciously on their reins to bring their beasts to a sudden halt.

"What if we are?" said the leader.

"Well I might have found one" said Hawk.

The leader dismounted. He was a vicious looking brute of a fellow.

"You'll tell me all you know about this nun or you'll regret it; for your life will be short and your death long" he said roughly.

"Mmm" said Hawk unmoved "Somehow that lacks the steel in velvet menace of Voltan. You aren't the fellow they call the Impaler are you by any chance?"

"So you've heard of my boss? Well we all live up to his name. And you're running out of time to talk" the man moved forward.

"Oh I think we've chatted long enough" said Hawk conversationally; and his sword was flying into his hand and he raised it to casually backhand the leader's head off.

This being as clear a signal as any the others leaped out from ambush.

The fight was short and brutal; and had only one possible outcome for the brigands were as much of a rabble as those mercenaries first attracted to Voltan's banner. Now Voltan's men were hardened, disciplined troops they made short work of such a rabble.

"Cor, were we like that once?" asked Renn.

"I'm afraid so" said Hawk who had fought enough of them.

"Fank Gawd fer Lidy Annis" said another.

"And amen to THAT sentiment" said Hawk. "Hobble their horses in a clearing in the spinney, we can collect them later; they've grass to crop and a small spring. Extra horses never go amiss."

"They're rather good horses too; as have been taken from the wealthy" said Jehanne "And though it seem nervy I'd say there was warhorse blood in the leader's mount and the others are good coursers as will be good bloodstock even an they be no war mounts by training."

"Yes, you're right" said Hawk "And he was uncertain there was enough mettle in his beast that he shouted me to move not risk the beast trying to ride me down….but as bloodstock they will do fine and for riding horses also. Jehanne, Barbara said these men are coarse and brutal; perchance you should stay here with the horses?"

"You'd not even ASK Annis that" said Jehanne accusingly, her eyes flashing.

"Sorry" said Hawk giving her a rueful grin "I get these protective urges."

"Well, My Lord, you've had you urges and I trust you be quite over the mad fit now" said Jehanne tartly.

"Yes My Lady" said Hawk meekly.

"Your people's courtship rituals are more martial than ours" Jagiz whispered to Renn.

"Not always" Renn replied "Just with such as the Lady Annis and her sisters. SHE courted Voltan by demanding sword lessons from him; not that it were a waste of time, because she's main good. But then, you need such women to match heroes like Lords Voltan and Hawk, whose like is not seen elsewhere."

Jagiz nodded sagely.

"Ah; and such women too we have in legend as matches for heroes" he said "It is quite something to be living to watch such legends made."

"Yeah, I guess" said Renn. "I'd never really thought about there being a legend in the making but I'll not say you're wrong at that. I have to say until you pointed it out, I'd not realised there was courtship going on; are you certain?"

"I thought it was obvious" said Jagiz.

Hawk approached the village of Oakridge cautiously and left the horses at some distance, scouting carefully on foot to overlook the village where it lay in the river valley.

"I'd think that an attack over the ridge out of the trees would be best" volunteered Jagiz.

"And so it might well be; but for one minor complication" said Hawk dryly.

"What's that, My Lord?" asked Jagiz.

"The hostage; sister Pauline" said Hawk grimly "Whose life we should attempt to preserve in any case; even an we did NOT, my brother and I, owe her a debt of gratitude; of the magnitude I believe your people call a life debt. She saved Lady Annis' life – and consequently her unborn child – when she caught a bad bout of marsh fever. Pauline's safety is paramount."

"It's a message too" said Jehanne "That hostages are ALWAYS rescued; or we make sure they die cleanly rather than be of use to their kidnappers. It sort of discourages hostage takers. Well I think Voltan would advise a clean kill rather than fail a rescue, don't you Hawk? It's not like someone like Pauline won't go straight to heaven."

"I still find Voltan's methods a little more ruthless than those I care to employ myself" said Hawk "And I fancy even my brother would balk at killing Pauline if there was any alternative at all."

"Probably; I talk worst case" said Jehanne "We need to get into the village for a proper look around."

"Easier said than done" said Hawk grimly "Any stranger is going to be noticed."

"Not a goatherd boy" said Jehanne. "We passed a lad and his herd. An we go back and buy some of his goats and his clothes, I'd pass as a goat boy."

Hawk opened his mouth; and shut it again hastily.

It was their best hope of gaining intelligence; and he knew Voltan and Annis would approve such a plan. He nodded.

"Quick thinking; you were quite right to come along" he said.

The goat boy was amazed and surprised to be given good price for his goats; with the ruffians about he was half inclined to assume that Hawk meant to just take them, and to be paid overwhelmed him.

"Ar, we be Voltan's men" said Renn "Not a bunch o' lawless thieving scum like that other lot."

Hawk had to hide a grin at the virtuous tone of Renn's voice since it was not so long since Voltan's men had been a bunch of lawless thieving scum like this lot of brigands.

The idea too of swapping clothes, and being allowed to keep the good quality garb Jehanne wore made the goat boy goggle.

"Be you pretending to be a goat boy then, young sir?" he asked Jehanne, staring.

"Yes" said Jehanne "We've a nun to rescue."

The lad crossed himself.

"Ar, nuns be main good to us all" he said "I'll pick fer you them as is most docile, what won't give you away fer causin' of any trouble, young master."

"Now that's very nice of you" said Jehanne approvingly "Art a clever youth to think of it." She changed in a bush to had out her clothes; for her fine shift must go too, that would show beneath the boy's short tunic of rough homespun nettlecloth that might too have had some goathair in it.

Jehanne made a very good scruffy looking goat herder and went off with her charges, whistling. The goats were accustomed to follow the sound of the rude flute the goat boy played, but as Jehanne had not time to learn how to play it, and could whistle tunefully she made do with that; and the goats seemed content enough with it. Especially as the genuine goat boy had given to Jehanne some of the succulent herbs the goats liked most that she might hold to entice them onward. This boy and his grandmother owned their own small herd of goats; but it was common enough for a village child to be entrusted to take the villagers' collected goats to pasture each day where they might graze. Such a child Jehanne pretended to be; and had to hope that the villagers would not give her away to the invading brigands. She strolled unconcernedly into the village whistling.

"Where are you going, boy?" demanded a brigand, stopping her on the road in.

Jehanne goggled at him with well simulated bucolic stupidity.

"Eh?" she said "I be go-un this way, do-ant I?"

She received a hard cuff across the ear and burst into noisy tears.

"I asked you where you be going!" growled the guard.

"I towd you di'n't I? There bain't no call to hit me master! I be go-un along here do-ant I? Takin' goats home."

"Home? Where?"

"Why, everyone know that!" said Jehanne staring foolishly at him. The blow had hurt but in a way it was fun seeing the man grinding his teeth in impotent fury over trying to get a straight answer out of a country lad of supposed limited wits and total incomprehension of anything outside his own knowledge.

"I DON'T!" growled the man.

"Ar well, how should you? You be a furriner and you still hint got no call to hit me" said Jehanne "I'll tell reeve you hit me when I take hissen goats back!"

The man gave a nasty laugh.

"Well that'll be a trick for you to do; reeve's in trouble" he said "Reckon if he don't look out, he'll be impaled termorrer!"

Jehanne gave a gasp of horror that had barely to be simulated and goggled at the man.

"Nobody can't do that!" she said "He's the REEVE! He's IMPORTANT!"

The man cuffed her again, sending her flying to the bleating consternation of her goats.

"Oh get on your stupid way, you stupid brat!" he said "maybe someone will get into your thick head how things is around here from now on!"

Jehanne picked herself up and rubbed her face and whistled sullenly to her goats.

She duly retrieved one from nibbling the thatch of a low eaved house where it stood on its back legs to reach an unaccustomed treat; and too k opportunity to whisper to the frightened woman watching through the door that was opened but a crack,

"Quick; the reeve's house – which is it? I'm Voltan's man"

"'Tis the one with the tiles" replied the woman "But the warlord the Impaler have taken it for his own!"

"My thanks" Jehanne nodded and headed for the house with the tiled roof.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" another guard stood outside it.

Jehanne let her mouth drop open.

"Cuh! Another furriner! I be doing my job, master" she said "Bringing reeve's goats back. What have bin grazin'."

"Goats!" snorted the man "Don't any of you people have decent meat animals like kine? Hardly nothin' here but sheep and goats and pigs!"

Jehanne did well simulated surprise.

"But we be not rich to hev kine, master; pigs be good animals, you can use everything 'cept the squeak and goats can graze and live where no other beast can! And goats do give milk, same as kine, and sheep give wool as kine can't!"

"Stupid peasants!" he growled "Go put your blasted goats up then, and get out!"

Jehanne led her goats round the back.

Most houses had a small plot attached to them for kitchen animals and a sty or chicken coop of byre for goats. The reeve did actually have a cow for milk with a small pen and byre; and Jehanne put the goats in there. There was nothing to be seen of where Sister Pauline might be; Voltan would have kept a hostage close to him, however, and as it was a good big house with perhaps three rooms, the nun and the reeve might be kept prisoner within. Short of drawing attention to herself she could not really find more but at least she knew the warlord of the brigands had his headquarters. She would walk the full length of the village and hope to find someone to ask questions of.

Accordingly, Jehanne mooched back onto the village street the picture of sullen dejection; that the rapidly developing bruises on her face did little to dispel. She wandered casually in the opposite direction to the way she had come as though heading for some home further on, shrugging her shoulders as though in dumb acceptance of the vicissitudes of life and partly too to permit her to wriggle against the itches the rough nettlecloth tunic and goatskin jerkin caused.

The village green lay at this other end of the village, partly concealed by a slight bend to the road and hidden from where Hawk had positioned himself by a row of oaks that gave the village its name, being on a spur of land from the side of the valley. The small river that ran through curved about this narrow spur and was bridged just beyond it.

The stocks were set up on the green as Jehanne could see as she rounded the bend of the road; and to her shock, of the two figures set in them, one was a nun!

Sister Pauline was half falling sideways, barely conscious; and as Jehanne cautiously circled by the expedient of a ditch running along the spur of higher ground she could see at least one reason why; for the nun's habit was tattered and bloodcaked across her back where the Impaler had evidently had her flogged; and blood too was on her skirts. Jehanne gasped. This was iniquitous! She dared not approach the nun, for a rough looking sentry stood guard over her and the well-enough dressed man beside her, also bloodstained, who was presumably the reeve. He had a square jawed face that looked like a man that stood no nonsense and made no concession to evil doers; no wonder he fell foul of such a warlord! There was at least a bucket of water and a dipper beside them; the Impaler did not then wish his hostage to die of dehydration as one that have lost much blood is more likely to do, as even Jehanne knew.

Jehanne came out of the ditch on her elbows, slithering through the long grass to the other side of Pauline from the guard and started singing in Latin, hoping the guard would take it for the nun at her prayers. Her Latin was still rudimentary, but had improved under Caspar's tuition; and she thought Pauline would forgive any grammatical lapses. She picked a hymn tune and sang words that translated as,

"Don't worry Sister Pauline

Hawk is very near

Voltan is on his way

We'll soon have you out of here."

The sentry swung round.

"Shut it with your God-bothering, woman!" he snapped at Pauline.

Pauline lifted a weary head.

"But I am supposed to sing the offices of the day….it is time for Vespers methinks."

"Well if you start that again, I'll gag you!" cried the man.

"Then I must needs observe the offices in mine own heart instead" said Pauline "Ut gratium habeo pro occipito atque ducio."

"And shut it with the Latin too!" cried the man hitting her across the mouth.

Jehanne marked him for hers later as she lay concealed and boiling with rage in the long grass. Pauline had managed to send her thanks – and an acknowledgement that she had understood – by her quick wits naming Hawk in direct translation as occipitus and calling Voltan 'leader', dux. As Jehanne might translate more readily into her own tongue than she had managed to translate into Latin where she had taken the risk of using proper names. It would give Pauline heart to know that friends were not far away. The young girl wriggled off the green and back into the ditch until she might use the trees to shield her to slip away from the village. It was all very well to come in boldly; to leave would cause questions for which she had no good answers!

And then she was circling around and running as fast as she dared back to Hawk.

Hawk caught Jehanne to him in an affectionate embrace and exclaimed over the bruises to her face.

Jehanne shrugged.

"Normal sport for such; as with any rough peasant" she said "Like master, like man; I've had worse after we were first orphaned. Sister Pauline and the reeve are in the stocks; they've both been cruelly flogged."

Hawk stared in something akin to disbelief; though of course he took Jehanne's word.

"He has actually flogged a nun? Dear GOD! At his worst my brother was never half so depraved!"

Jehanne shrugged.

"Voltan's a great man; and so he was even in the rage of his pain, I suppose" she said "He did not need to use that level of brutality to instil fear and respect. He wanted, I suppose, to humiliate the church that repudiated him; but even so did not consider treating a nun just as any who had crossed him. And I wager he'd have put flogging down on his list of despised acts for the use of weakness, save as a judicial measure short of hanging for those of his men as transgressed. He has never been a mindless brute."

"No" conceded Hawk "For he was the product of a noble upbringing" he grimaced "I fear that these brigands will not hesitate to kill villagers to try to drive us off; and too use them as shields."

"I expect you and Lord Voltan between you will come up with a clever plan" said Jehanne cheerfully who had every faith in her stepbrother-in-law and her Lord Hawk.


	16. Chapter 16

**chapter 16**

When Sister Barbara told her tale to Voltan, the warlord was on his feet in rage, his face white with fury.

"And you say he was HITTING her, Barbara? This is too much!" he roared "Little Sister, do you go to rest; we ride to meet Hawk straightway!"

"No My Lord: I ride with you!" said Barbara stoutly "To support Pauline all I may."

"What? You defy me?"

Barbara quailed slightly and reminded herself that Voltan was on their side now.

"Yes My Lord" she said.

Voltan gave a bark of laughter.

"Hast steel within when 'tis needed" he said "Then we shall wait an hour; and we shall eat seated not on the trail as I had thought to do, that you may take brief rest. An you pass out on me, shalt be a liability."

Barbara acquiesced to that; she knew he spoke truth. And was glad to recline on a bed in the keep – whose she knew not – to eat her meal and rest her sore backside, unaccustomed to riding so much.

With food in her belly, hope in her heart, rested and with a fresh mount beneath her, Barbara felt a different woman. She exclaimed over Annis riding out with them at five months into her pregnancy.

"I, like you, go for Pauline" said Annis grimly "I OWE Pauline. And I am also deeply fond of her. You couldn't keep me out short of actually being in labour."

They took with them a warband of two companies each of twenty men; for rumour credited the Impaler with half a hundred; and Barbara said she had seen enough men to believe that readily. Barbara was no hysterical fool and had a quick eye and Voltan was glad to take her intelligence as accurate.

Like Hawk, Voltan's men dismounted short of the village; and the majority of the company remained with them under orders of silence while Voltan, Annis and Barbara went to the meet with Hawk in the grove, Voltan confidently leading the way.

Hawk embraced Voltan and Annis and kissed little Sister Barbara's hand; and filled his brother in on what Jehanne had discovered.

Voltan nodded to Jehanne.

"Resourceful girl" he said approvingly.

Jehanne grinned. Unqualified praise from Voltan was rare enough to be valued. And in many ways, Voltan stood as a father-figure to her; and his approval was sweet.

"There have been other developments" said Hawk grimly. "A man tried to prevent those ruffians dragging off his wife for their….amusement; and not only did they beat on him, he has been impaled and left in the street as a warning to others that would oppose them. She was still screaming when I came up here; and Jagiz is mutinous."

Voltan turned panther-like to look at the sullen barbarian.

"If it were your wife, would you wish an inadequate band to act, that would likely get your children killed for being used as shields as such scum do – or would you want a chance for your younglings to grow up?" he demanded in a voice like steel being drawn.

Jagiz flushed.

"It is so hard to stand by and do nothing" he said "I – I saw Chabee in that woman's eyes when they hoisted him on that cruel stake….."

"And no harder for you than for my brother that has never ridden, as you have surely done, on such raiding parties as your people commonly do raping, pillaging and firing houses" said Voltan harshly "You have been part of causing such; it seem a little hypocritical to have qualms now and hast no right to make trouble about it. Hawk will hear that woman's screams in his nightmares long time. If she is lucky she will either survive to be rescued or else she will be fortunate to die quickly. It is, I see, the casual cruelty of the impaling more than hot blooded rapine for you; I call both barbaric and unmanly. We act to prevent any more of such atrocities; and an you be too much a barbarian to take my discipline, shalt ride home now for I'll not risk my other men and the hostages and the village for an undisciplined cur."

Jagiz flushed.

"I am no cur; I can take your discipline My Lord" he said "I would wish though, to claim as mine the one that did the impaling."

"If it be possible in heat of battle I so cede that claim" said Voltan "So long as you do not break ranks to take him but call on your fellows to aid you to reach him. Carry on Jagiz; an you can contain yourself I shall be proud that you are my man. Hawk, show me the lie of the land" and he turned away from the barbarian to go with his brother.

Long Voltan stared over the village as dark grew deeper; then he nodded; and led Hawk back to where the mass of the men waited in disciplined silence, talking only occasionally and in low voices.

"We do it thus" said the warlord "In three parties. Annis, Barbara, Jehanne, and Ranulf as their bodyguard take covert – and I believe culvert if I may venture the pun ere it burst from Jehanne – path to the stocks; and hope that this Impaler sees fit to leave his prisoners out overnight. Your men watching did not see them brought in to the Impaler's headquarters?" he checked with Hawk.

Hawk shook his head.

"No, we have not seen any brought back to the main part of the village" he said "And there are no barns to that side only woods."

"Good. That group is responsible for removing Sister Pauline and the Reeve and going DIRECTLY to the nunnery without getting involved in anything else. Understood?"

"Understood My Lord" said Annis crisply "We'll obey too, unless any try to stop us and we get unintentionally involved in other matters."

Voltan gave a wry smile that Annis confirmed that as well as understanding she intended to obey.

"The second group" said the warlord "Will be creeping on their bellies towards the village; and each will mark one of the enemy as his to kill. Jagiz claims a particular one; I am happy that he be facilitated to deal with such."

"I shan't be there; I'd like one to kill a man with straw coloured hair and cauliflower ears who struck Sister Pauline on the mouth" said Jehanne.

"I'll take him, Lady" said Kai eagerly.

She smiled thanks at him; and Voltan went on,

"On my command, each will seize their target and kill him. No finesse; no challenge; no duel. They are scum and we stick them like pigs. Hawk, you'll lead that group and give command in my stead an it seem appropriate?"

Hawk nodded.

"Gladly, my brother. What of the third group?" he asked.

Voltan grinned a rather grim grin.

"The group I shall lead is by way of a diversion for the majority of you, in my brother's group, to do your job with greater ease" he said "For I and a couple of volunteers will ride openly into the village; and I will call challenge on one who have the impudence to refer to himself as 'the new Voltan'. He'll believe that of me; and methinks he'll call a load of his bully boys to try to take me down rather than agree to single combat. One does have one's reputation; and most with any sense fear to meet me sword to sword."

"As well that might" said Hawk dryly "You are the pre-eminent swordsman in the land. Only the Sword has ever carried the day against you when you and I have fought."

"And art a worthy wielder of it" said Voltan, acknowledging his brother's skill and swallowing the bitterness that the Sword should have come to him. He was glad the Sword was there to protect his little brother; as once he had done; that now he need feel no concern about Hawk wherever he might be.

"I wonder" said Hawk, suddenly, detaching the pommel, that flared to his touch. "Lay your hand on mine upon it, brother; let us see if we can SHARE the power of it an I introduce you."

Voltan's eyes widened; and he did as his brother bade him to do.

The orb of the pommel pulsed brightly, throwing the faces of the brothers into sharp relief, marking in the harsh shadows their similarities more than their differences. Hawk concentrated; sending the stone images of himself and Voltan as one; and felt it pulse like something alive under his hand, as though it listened.

Hawk returned the pommel to the sword.

"Call it to hour hand" he said "Will it to be there."

Voltan concentrated; and the sword was indeed in his hand, brandished, and glowing!

Tears ran down his face.

"My brother…."

"Now we can never fight each other again" said Hawk, quietly. "Take the Sword, my brother; you may be hard pressed without it."

"I thank you, Hawk" said Voltan "Will you take care of, and use mine?"

"Gladly" said Hawk, taking and buckling on Voltan's great black blade "And it remind me that I should use common blade more often that I not become weak for using the magic sword that have but little weight to the wielder."

They embraced.

"Who will come with me to the most risky part?" asked Voltan.

There was a whispered clamour of volunteers; most of the company swayed forward. Voltan smiled; and so too did Hawk that his brother could inspire such loyalty.

"I'll have Elissa, Gort, Renn and Cerdic" decided Voltan "To horse, then; we ride after a count of one thousand to let the others get into place."

Jehanne led Annis, Barbara and Ranulf round the village fields to approach the green from the ditch she had used to leave it. A trickle of water ran at the bottom but the ditch was broad enough and deep enough for slender bodies to move along half way up its banks; for Annis was not yet unwieldy in her pregnancy. Ranulf just bent low and walked through the shallow trickle. They worked to remain below the level of the banks; but it was not so vital in the dark, that it were unlikely that any slight movement of a cautious head should be discerned.

They emerged on elbows and wriggling on their bellies – harder for Annis than the others who rolled partly onto her side to move – into the rank grass at the edge of the green by the end of the ridge where the oak trees grew; and could observe that two fellows now watched the prisoners. A brazier gave heat and some light that was cast on the faces of the prisoners the better to watch them; and one of the sentries had laid his crossbow down and had taken off his sword belt and was amusing himself by describing to the reeve the impaling of earlier that afternoon and explaining in great detail what was in store for him on the morrow unless he capitulated fully. Annis winced at the thought of what Voltan would do to one of HIS men had he been so lax as not to have his weapons to hand when on guard duty. The fellow would have been glad of an impaling; for endangering his fellows, Voltan would likely have him either stoned to death or running the gauntlet. And none would say he was wrong at that. They were not soldiers in the least; but bully-boys who did not respect their duty and responsibility and took more interest in trying to scare the helpless reeve who was trying to hide his fear as the story concluded.

"And naytheless I will not bow the knee to your brutish captain nor tell you where to find the priest and the church monies" said the reeve doggedly "Nor will I advise my people that it ever be right to behave so to a holy woman. You are a damned fiend as are all of you that go along with such iniquity."

The man laughed.

"Why, My Lord but seeks to emulate Voltan the Dark One that have turned soft!" he said.

Pauline raised her face.

"You forget that I have known Voltan from before the time he returned to God" she said "And he was one I feared. Your master is capable of producing pain and suffering; but he cannot make me fear him. He will NEVER emulate Voltan; for Voltan has ever been one to both fear and admire in his efficiency. Nobody could ever describe so urbane and menacing a devil as Voltan in terms I would reserve for YOUR captain – a brutish, stupid peasant without wit or finesse."

"Ah, bravo, Pauline" murmured Annis.

"Shut up, bitch!" the man struck her face.

"I will not; you fear the truth but truth it is" said Pauline.

"I'll distract them; you kill the one on the left, Ranulf" said Annis, rising silently from the grassy dip they lay in. She moved forward and into the circle of firelight so that as the sentries swung round drawing sword at an approaching figure they might see her slender beauty and delicate features.

"What the – a wench! Just what we need to warm us on a chilly night!" laughed the other sentry.

"You know, it could be that Voltan is closer than you think and rather disliking the way your swine of a peasant captain compares himself to him" said Annis, brightly.

"Oh ho, wench! And what know you of that?" they had both moved closer to her; and Annis could smell the stench of lust on them as they eyed her up.

"I'm Voltan's wife" said Annis mildly; and the throwing knife was suddenly buried in the throat of her target, the man on the right.

The throat of the one on the left sprouted an equally strange adornment in the quarrel from Ranulf's crossbow.

Ranulf and Jehanne sprang from the ditch to drag the bodies out of the circle of light and too to check they were dead. Jehanne pulled out Annis' knife and tossed it back to her stepsister who caught it deftly and returned it to her wrist sheath. Barbara had run sobbing to Pauline.

"You got through safely, then child" said Pauline, putting an arm about the younger nun. Barbara was sobbing in relief.

"She fell in with Hawk on patrol on the way who have reconnoitred fully that we might move this very night" said Annis, plying a crowbar to break the locks of the stocks. The metal hinges that she attacked failed with a sullen 'spang!' sound. Annis grunted in satisfaction. "Good reeve, you must come with us for the nonce, that we may keep you safe; for I will not deviate one iota from My Lord's plan lest it risk those who will rescue your village" she added. "Besides, you need the aid of the nunnery for your wounds too."

"Dear God, will Voltan rescue the village as well as the nun? Bless him!" cried the reeve.

"Hush!" said Annis "Call not attention to us here. Follow me; Pauline, hadst better be carried by Ranulf?"

"I'll walk, thank you all the same" said Pauline, gritting her teeth. "My legs are stiff; it were well to get them moving; pain at least shows they still exist."

"'Tis not far to where the horses wait!" said Barbara encouragingly.

Ranulf and Jehanne dragged the dead sentries to prop them up seemingly in the stocks to look as though two people sat there still.

"I beg your wimple, Sister Pauline" said Jehanne "To make a holy woman for brief glance out of this most unholy man."

Pauline pulled it off and handed it over, her short ginger locks glowing in the firelight.

"Such will make Lords Voltan and Hawk safer?" she asked.

"Aye" Annis answered "We moved first; Voltan moves about now; we must be away. I hope we may not be pursued at all; but let us take as few chances as we might."

They might at least leave a little less covertly for the taking down of these guards; few guards were posted after all, save on the roads and in the centre of the village.

In sooth, it were not otherwise necessary; crushed by poverty and this horrifying raid, few peasants would have the initiative to leave their lands and flee.

Soon they were on horses, Pauline wincing as she got into the saddle, and Annis shot her a sharp, penetrating look.

"I am sorry; we ride hard for four miles or so ere I put salves on wounds" said Annis "Be brave – braver rather, Pauline; I will too give you a salve shalt apply yourself out of sight of the rest of us."

Pauline gave her a quick look of gratitude; and much passed between two women in that glance. They rode; Annis leading Pauline's horse so all the nun must needs do was to stay on.

At last they halted and Annis slathered soothing cream across the backs of Pauline and the reeve.

"Drop into those trees, Pauline, for the rest" said Annis.

"You are a good girl Annis" said Pauline "And you should not be abroad at so late a stage of your pregnancy."

Annis made a rude noise.

"For you, Pauline, I'd gallop until labour pains made me fall from my horse" she said.

Pauline muttered something like 'foolishness' as she withdrew into the privacy of a stand of trees to anoint herself with salves more privily.

The salves helped; but the last leg of the ride saw Jehanne and Annis one each side of the nun, virtually holding her in the saddle and guiding her horse between theirs. And at last they achieved their goal; and Annis left the horses to Ranulf to set up in the stable while she and Barbara practically carried Pauline with Jehanne sent ahead to knock.

A fearful sister unbarred the door to them and gasped and fell back at the sight of the blood stained Sister Pauline and the almost equally bloody reeve all but fell in the door with their escorts.

At which point Annis promptly took over and sent the little sister running for other – named – nuns, and for cloths and salves and warm water to wash Pauline's and the Reeve's wounds.

oOoOo

Voltan thundered down the road towards the village on his great black warhorse Nightmare.

"Halt, you cannot…."

The sentry spoke his last words as Voltan deliberately rode him down; something Nightmare made no difficulty about. The warlord gave a harsh laugh.

"There's something uncommonly satisfying in doing that!" he commented.

They thundered in through the village, scattering or riding over sundry ruffians, turning in perfect formation and stopping short outside the reeve's tiled house.

"HOLA!" cried Voltan in a great voice "Where skulks the flea-infested vermin descended from a dozen generations of poxy whores who dares to have the contumely to claim to be a second Voltan?"

The door crashed open and the stocky, pock-marked figure of the Impaler swaggered out. He wore fine armour that he had evidently looted; and it looked as though he had looted it for being of poor fit and ill adjusted; that Voltan noted in scorn in passing as though he had no idea how to adjust it. He was not even a mercenary.

"Who dares thus address The Impaler, second Voltan, the Darker One?" he sneered.

"I am the first and only Voltan" said Voltan, conversationally "And I've come to kill you" he dismounted.

"YOU? Don't make me laugh! If you ARE Voltan, hast become but a church choir boy that have no more balls than a maid child, who can use a sword for nothing more than beheading daisies!"

"Oh? Care to try that out?" said Voltan with a wolfish grin.

"I do not demean myself to fight half-women! Kill him and his men!"

A dozen men, the brigand's personal bodyguard, leaped towards Voltan. The warlord laughed; and the Sword was in his hand.

Even without it he thought scorn on this brigand chief; for had one challenged him, he should have cut him down personally, and his bodyguard too.

There was a brief pause of superstitious awe from the would-be assailants; and Voltan took every advantage of it. Two fell dead before their fellows were even galvanised to action; then they were on him and Voltan danced, whirled – and killed. The men set to kill him had some skill with sword; perhaps one or two had enough skill to realise how futile was their chance of taking down a warrior as much more dangerous than they as one of them might be than an unarmed peasant boy. But it was too late; and Voltan plied the magic sword with a delicacy and accuracy of a surgeon's knife and no unnecessary effort that he cut each down with no more effort than the bare minimum to sever a major artery that led inevitably to death.

"Let us look to the rest" said Elissa to her fellows "He have that lot outnumbered; no dozen ordinary men can stand against Voltan let alone scum like that"

Her voice carried; as it was meant to do. The legend of Voltan would grow in the telling of any peasants who heard it and help the more to keep the peace. And to Elissa it was too a treat to watch Voltan in action, his delicate dance of death so skilful that though she knew she would never achieve such skill, yet it were an inspiration to keep on trying.

Gort laughed.

"Aye, Voltan is like unto his brother Hawk in that" he said "A little recreation for this killing will make him doucer at home…. SO YOU PANSIES, BRING IT ON!"

"Gort, you great oaf, at least Voltan have felicity of style!" laughed Elissa.

oOoOo

Hawk moved cautiously down the valley sides into the outer part of the village with the rest of Voltan's men doing the same.

He head – and felt – the thunder of hooves and appreciated the way the five riders, even Gort, managed the formation wheel and halt.

"Pity these oiks be too oikish to realise such things demonstrate just how outclassed they are" muttered one of Voltan's men at his elbow.

Hawk had not considered that.

"Can they really be so ignorant?" he wondered.

"'Fraid so Me Lord" said the man gloomily. "An you knows nuffin, how can you know when suffun you dunno be done good?"

He had a point.

Voltan was now bellowing his challenge and Hawk grinned.

"You have to admit he have a certain style" he said to his companion – told off, had be but known it, by Ranulf to watch Lord Hawk's back.

A quick flash of lightness in the man's face revealed a returned grin.

"Oh there ain't anyone like Voltan" he said "And these godless oiks'll hardly live ter say fank Gawd fer that."

It almost made sense in a bizarre sort of way; but Hawk was only half listening now; he watched as the Impaler called for Voltan and his companions to be cut down; and that was the signal. He and his contingent rose up as a man and fell upon the rear of those brigands watching the fight; as all were, for none were disciplined enough to maintain his post when something so interesting occurred, some even running from the other end of the village. And it was easy. They just slew them where they stood, and hardly any of The Impaler's men the wiser until it was their time to die. Those few who had been quick witted enough to lift crossbows to use against Voltan's lieutenants had yet to cock them when they died to a man without knowing what or who had killed them.

And so substantially, and almost silently, the battle was over; and Voltan, despatching the last of the assailants who beset him made one of his panther like springs on the Impaler who had scarcely even assimilated the fact that his troops were overrun; and seized the man and disarmed him.

"Didn't feel like helping me out then?" he said to Elissa.

"You were having such fun, My Lord, it seemed hardly fair to interrupt" the female warrior shrugged.

Renn summed up the thoughts of the company with a brief spit and the single, laconic word.

"Amachoors" he said.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

"Torches" said Voltan, securing the swearing little would-be warlord. "Let us have some light in this street. Elissa, go and make sure that the hostages are safely away. Gort, check if any still live to be hanged. Hawk, to the church and ring the bell in a peal of victory. Ralph, take a dozen men in two patrols and check none be hiding around the environs of the village, Cerdic, the same searching every home. An you find hostages taken from the villagers, report back, do not risk the hostages by fighting unless it be clear you can free them without risk."

Silently the men ran off to do as was bid and Voltan nodded satisfaction.

It was the sign of a good and disciplined army that they needed not to shout and call from one to another.

And he could feel palpable waves of hatred from the Impaler that stemmed as much the jealousy of the brigand chief over Voltan's easy manner of command and charisma and his people's smart manner and crisp obedience as it was over being the one that had lost. The brigand knew enough – just – to be dimly aware why he was never going to be a second Voltan. And the bitter gall he had to swallow over that was as sweet to Voltan as it was bitter to the Impaler.

Elissa had the worst moment of all of Voltan's troops when she saw the nun's wimple on a figure in the stocks; and terror cycled through her over what had gone wrong; and fear for both Annis and Jehanne whom she loved like family. She breathed deeply, loosed her sword and moved forward; and saw there were no sentries. Either they had joined the fray, of Annis and her group had successfully killed them and had been unable to free the hostages. And if the warlord's exquisite little wife had been hurt or killed during her part, Elissa scarcely knew how she would be able to tell Voltan; not for fear that he would slay the messenger, as he might once have done, in his grief and anger; but that she would cause her lord unbearable anguish.

When she came close enough to see the stubble on the chin of the supposed nun – the other having a full beard and even less suitable – and realised that the figures where but dead brigands Elissa laughed out loud in relief; and removed the wimple. It could be washed and returned to the Sister later. An any had passed by it had served its purpose to the casual observer. And Elissa determined to scold Annis later for giving her one of the worst moments of her life!

Cerdic had to disobey Voltan for being jumped by a brigand in one of the houses while a second brigand held a knife to the throat of the goodwife within. One of Cerdic's men dropped back, climbed onto the roof to make a hole through the thatch and slew the second ruffian with a crossbow bolt fired directly down into his brain as Cerdic finished off the first.

That was all the trouble they had, unless you counted disentangling themselves from the peasant woman who cast herself down to grasp Cerdic by the knees and kiss his feet.

The compensation was the griddle cakes the goodwife begged them to eat, that the brigands had been forcing her to cook; and a good soldier knows the old maxim, never turn down a free meal or the chance to take a piss.

The bell rang out and the villagers poured out into the streets, sobbing and falling to their knees before the victors. Voltan checked that all was under control and then strode into the reeve's house, where he found in the solar the reeve's wife and children, the woman tending to the barely conscious woman whose husband had been impaled. The reeve's young son regarded Voltan with more malevolence than fear, uncertain what this new warrior meant, ready to suspect him as an enemy unless proven otherwise.

Voltan nodded to the boy and sketched a brief bow to the reeve's wife.

"Madam" he said curtly "Your husband should, an all have gone to plan, be even now at the nunnery from which Sisters Pauline and Barbara originate; having his wounds tended. Your house is once more your own once I have checked it for hidden bandits. Does this unfortunate woman have children?"

"Yes, My Lord; they are with her mother" answered the reeve's wife, who felt that 'My Lord' was the most appropriate form of address to the charismatic warlord.

"Good" said Voltan "They are best to remain there for the nonce. It gives her something to live for – an she be not hurt so bad that she be like to bleed to death. My spies could do nothing to save her or her husband without jeopardising the whole plan and thus putting the village into danger. I hear her man's spirit was remarkable; an her children wish to enter my service when they are grown I will readily take them."

The semi-conscious woman's eyelids fluttered.

"Do…you….take on…..dependants….of women….who would….fight brigands?" she asked painfully, her voice but a thread.

"Naturally" said Voltan "Why, would you then learn to be a warrior to prevent it happening to others?"

"What else…..have I?"

"If you accept my banner" said Voltan harshly "You will also accept my discipline; such that if you must hold back for the greater good and the certain victory, however much it hurt you, so must you do; as my men did while they waited for me to arrive with a war band once they had alerted me."

Her eyes opened fully.

"I – I will try an I may but learn to kill such monsters!" she said through gritted teeth, finding the will power to force out the sentence in one breath.

"My healer will see you and check you out; as she would in any case" said Voltan "And then when you are fit, shalt come with your children; and an she wish it you mother also. You will suffer pain in the learning. It will be to save your life. Now rest; when you have told me your name."

"I am Gudrun."

"Then rest, Gudrun; and I shall see thee later."

The woman made no reply; and Voltan thought she had passed out again from exerting herself to speak to him.

"My Lord, she is angry and hurt; she cannot know what she says!" said the reeve's wife in an undertone "You may find she remembers naught of this or wants not to become a warrior in sooth; that is a strange occupation for a woman!"

Voltan shrugged.

"An the anger give her strength to live for her children, no matter an she continue in her desire to be a warrior or not" he said "I honour he determination; and an she join me I shall be happy to recruit her. She will not be mine only woman warrior, for my wife, her sister and one of my captains are female warriors and we think it not unnatural that any woman should want to defend her home and children at least. Any women that want to fight will not be turned away from my troops on grounds of their sex. I need the numbers; for there should be a fortress built near here to cover protection of the nunnery and this and a number of other villages" he glanced at the boy. "Wilt take arms when art older? They father is a brave man as I have heard."

"Yes, My Lord" said the boy simply, having made up his mind that Voltan was a friend.

"Then when art older, a year or three, an your father give you his blessing, shalt come to me as a page" said Voltan "And with good skills from your father's organisation of the village – for it look very well ordered – added to the martial skills shalt learn from me, one day shalt be castellan of a fort held from me."

"I WILL come My Lord!" said the boy.

If his mother sighed at her son's martial bent she concealed it.

After all, had a fort existed to protect the village the horror of the last twenty four hours would not have occurred; and being men of peace had prevented it from happening.

Gort had collected some prisoners who had been feigning death, having tested the veracity of their necrosis by the simple expedient of running a poignard into the soles of their feet.

The ones that screamed were not dead.

Few men have the fortitude to resist screaming when the soles of their feet are assaulted.

"Tie them up and watch them" said Voltan "They shall serve an object lesson on the morrow; as will this Impaler. And get that other poor fellow down from the stake and take him to the church where he may receive the last rites as soon as anyone turn up a priest. HAVE we a priest here?"

A man dressed in a peasant's tunic came forward. He was thoroughly bald, that a tonsure would not show.

"I hid in plain sight, My Lord" he said "That I be near for spiritual guidance; and to keep concealed such few poor treasures as our church possesses. It seemed to serve no purpose to die. Though I must say, once I little thought that I would live to say 'God bless Lord Voltan' as I do this day!"

Voltan shrugged.

"It is time to extend my demesne to cover this village and protect further" he said "And I commend your common sense; God wants not useless martyrs but live guides to His people. And you may thank God that the nuns were here when this fellow came; that thought to send to me for aid else I had not known. So vicious a ruffian be an offence to mankind; for whatever I have been that make your pleasure in my presence a surprise, methinks I have never been such a brutal beast."

"No My Lord; you were not" said the priest. "Though some of your men were as brutish."

"And such have either learned better or died for a failure to learn it" said Voltan grimly. "Since they have, on the whole, improved past recognition, methinks perchance I should have been able to mould some of the brigands here….and yet" he mused "And yet these are more hardened to atrocity perchance than my men were."

"So too I would judge, My Lord" said the priest. "I pray you will excuse me; I would give last rites to Lefwin now your men have got him down."

The warlord nodded curtly a dismissal.

"You" Voltan swung round and picked a burly peasant. "Do you collect a dozen men and dig a pit outside hallowed ground where we might put all these bodies right speedily; they deserve not a Christian burial."

The peasant pulled his forelock fearfully but obediently and set off to do as bidden.

Voltan poked the Impaler with one boot.

"Tell me, fellow, how do you set about impaling someone?" he asked "I'll need to know for impaling you in the morning."

He was answered with a string of profane obscenity.

Voltan shrugged.

"Ah well" the warlord said cheerfully "An I make a bit of an amateur job of it, hast only thyself to blame for not helping me do it right."

It tickled his sense of humour to use the familiar tense to the fellow to emphasise how much better he was than the failed Impaler.

oOoOo

In the nunnery Pauline submitted to Annis' ministrations, trying not to wince as the girl soaked off any fabric stuck into wounds and held with dried blood and plasma.

"This is going to sting" advised Annis "But wool may cause festering and I must souse it well with thyme; as of course you need me not to tell you for you know well. Do you bite hard on the pillow, Pauline and remember some of Voltan's choicer oaths to help you get through it; 'tis a forgiving God that listens after all."

"Pert brat" grumbled Pauline as a matter of form. She did as she was bid, however; she knew Annis was right and doing exactly the same as she would have done had the situation been reversed.

It hurt; and she almost swooned and fought against gagging for the wave of nausea the pain brought.

Then healing, cooling salves were easing the pain, and Annis was checking over the rest of her body, washing away the sweat and blood and urine from the hours in the stocks; putting salves to ease all the places that had been hurt so sorely.

"Pauline!"

It was Mother Superior in the doorway; she had only just been wakened by one of the nuns who told her what had happened.

Annis dropped a curtsey.

"Dear God, what animal hath done this?" cried Mother Superior. "Until Anne told me you had returned hurt, and Barbara upset I had no idea you had not chosen to stay with some sick villager!"

"The one that has one this is – or was – called the Impaler" said Annis. "He's either dead now, or awaiting morning's light for execution. Voltan and Hawk were preparing to fall on his bandits as we took Pauline and the reeve away from durance vile."

"And where is Barbara? What has happened to her?" asked Mother Superior.

"I sent her to bed; Pauline bade her escape and ride to Voltan for aid" said Annis "She's exhausted with exertion and fear and trauma. I beg you let her sleep it off without rising for Matins and Lauds for a couple of days. She did well."

"She should have come HERE" said Mother Superior.

"Oh? I don't notice that you have troops to deal with half an hundred bandits as we do" said Annis crisply.

"I knew what I did when I ordered her to Voltan" murmured Pauline sleepily "It were a delay to come here first; you'd have sent to Hawk and Voltan anyway. I knew Voltan could rescue us."

Mother Superior sighed.

"You were probably right so to do, Pauline" she said "You have a bad habit of it….and under the circumstances….. Dear God, Voltan at his WORST never used me as you have been used!"

"And there is worse, Mother Superior" said Annis quietly "She has also been raped."

Mother Superior went white; and crossed herself.

"Sweet Lord, I know not what to say!" she said.

"Then you had best pray for guidance; as I will" said Annis "I have given her a soporific by way of revenge for all those she gave me."

Pauline gave a sleepy half laugh. Her hand quested for Annis' hand; and the girl held it until the soporific draught took full effect and the nun slept.

Voltan and his men slept through the night in shifts, just in case; and kept close watch over the prisoners. And Voltan took some pleasure in taunting the Impaler that HIS men took their duties seriously and did not abandon their direction of watch no matter what.

All the guards on the outer roads to the village had been found to have come to 'watch the fun' of seeing Voltan cut to ribbons.

Unlike the marauders too, Voltan's men did not demand to sleep in the best houses of the village; but wrapped themselves in their cloaks and slept in the street as it was a fine night. At dawn, bemused and tired peasants stumbled out to feed livestock and Hawk explained to the reeve's son why he had half a dozen goats in his father's pen.

"Your page is brave!" said the boy.

Hawk laughed.

"She is that" he said "And she is also one of those who rescued your father. Either I or Voltan will ride later to the nunnery to see how he and Sister Pauline do; wilt come along?"

The boy nodded eagerly!

When Voltan's men had eaten – they did not trouble to feed the prisoners – the warlord drove the surviving bandits outside the village and summarily hanged them all but their leader from the nearest tree. Voltan's men had the hanging of bandits down to a fine art and undertook the task with despatch and efficiency. A stake had been prepared for the impaler and Voltan's men dug a hole to set it in.

By this time the Impaler was begging and pleading for mercy.

"Phaugh, you make me sick" said Voltan "You are a bully and a coward; and you might ask any that have ever had me in THEIR power an I begged like a girl; such pleading never moved you for YOUR hapless victims, that be peasants and so supposed to be victims; that an you set yourself up as a warrior you should rise above!"

"Lefwin did not beg" said Hawk "He but cursed this fellow and his men; HE died a man."

"Then, little man, ye be bested by a peasant" said Voltan "And I suppose that should not surprise me; you being so low that I wonder you not crawl on your belly leaving a trail of slime. Enough! I have no time for your senseless prattle!"

Shrieking, the man was set on the sharpened pole; whence he descended fatally with one last, brief, horrible cry.

Hawk shuddered.

Voltan laid a hand on his shoulder.

"He chose this means of execution by enforcing it on others" he said "Let him rot there; and so perish all such. Renn, art literate; set up the usual inscription" he decreed.

"Aye, My Lord" said Renn.

"It be quicker than hanging but somehow more kind of….." Ralph tailed off.

"Yes" said Voltan "And none of us are unmoved by that; I censure no man that feels a certain horror. It give one an uncomfortable feeling in one's own guts."

His men were relieved that even the warlord found impaling a disturbing business; they might then admit it without shame!

Hawk too was not displeased that his brother did not view it unmoved and touched his arm.

"Art away yourself to the nunnery or will you have me go?" he asked.

"'Tis MY pregnant wife that have – I hope – reached there safely" said Voltan "though why not both of us? We do not need to do more than leave a small garrison here against any of this fellow's patrols – an he had them – returning. Cerdic comes from this region; he shall pick a band of half a dozen and build a small temporary stronghold lest there be any more brigands about."

"Like you, I somehow doubt the Impaler was so efficient as to have patrols" said Hawk dryly. "Aye; I would like to come with you; an we two ride together we need no other escort. And I promised the reeve's son too that he might come."

"Pray then that the poor fellow have not died of his wounds on the way" growled Voltan "else it had hurt the boy cruelly that he expect to see his father and then get the worst of news. Nay, I think he will not have died" he added hastily as Hawk gasped"The Impaler wanted the fellow alive to be an object lesson to the village; heed me not, things like this put me in a black mood somehow. Wonder what the fellow's name really was?"

"A fitting end that he die with none knowing as he chose to hide under a nom de guerre" said Hawk.

Voltan nodded.

"Aye; I never hid my name. Any epithets I collected were given me later by others" he said. "Oh by the way, my brother, I have this big knife of yours that I borrowed" he added, passing back the magical blade.

Hawk grinned.

"And here is yours, that I think I have not disgraced. I half wondered an you might be tempted to keep it."

"Tempted? Aye. Mightily" admitted Voltan. "But you gifted me with its use so generously I were more churlish to you than I have ever been an I kept it. I would ask that you loan it to me again on need."

"It shall be" said Hawk "And as it were your birthright not mine, I were minded to will it to YOUR son – not mine, should I have one."

Voltan stared.

"Brother; art generosity personified" he said. "Let us here and now pledge that it go to the best warrior – your son or mine, or even a daughter that prove such a warrior – that we raise between us. Then it will be in the most worthy hands."

"It sings with pleasure at that idea" said Hawk.

"Aye; I hear its song in my mind too" said Voltan softly.

The reeve's son Wilfrith rode before Voltan on the brief ride to the nunnery.

Voltan reflected on the time he had come for news of Annis and little sister Barbara had recoiled in horror from him. How different it was this time, that the sister who opened the door to them should look pleased to welcome him and his brother both!

Annis ran into Voltan's arms and Jehanne into Hawk's.

Wilfrith stared curiously at Jehanne; the only page he had ever seen at close quarters. And she plainly Lord Hawk's wife or soon to be wife; that meant she was not typical for him to copy.

Voltan winked at him.

"Shalt not be kissing me as my page" he said.

Wilfrith giggled; it was such a silly idea!

"How do they do?" Hawk was first to ask.

"Sore; but substantially uninjured" said Annis crisply "At least" she amended "The reeve be like to be about soon; some of what was perpetrated on Pauline may leave her bearing mental scars for life."

"Ah" said Voltan in disgust "HOW I despise rapists."

"I think she'd like to see you, My Lord" said Annis "Pauline have a softer spot for the wicked warlord than she likes to let on."

Voltan held his wife's gaze; and nodded.

Pauline looked up at the heavy, yet soundless and soft tread of the warlord; and flushed scarlet. She lay on her side that her back not be against the bed, sticking again and tearing further.

Voltan knelt down beside the bed and gently put his arms about her shoulders; and Pauline, to her own disgust clung to him as though she were drowning and burst into tears.

He stroked her short hair.

"You have been hurt by a weakling that never was a man" said Voltan harshly "They are all dead; whichever of them did this to you, those we slew not we hanged. Save the leader; who chose his own means of demise in his choice of what he gave to others."

"It was the Impaler himself that – that took me" whispered Pauline "He – he had his men hold me. I – I knew I could not fight; the strongest and fittest cannot fight when four hold you down. So I tried to go floppy; that he have as much joy with me as with a corpse, making as though I had passed out. He – he hit me a lot to try to make me move. I – I tried to –to let my mind not be part of my body."

"Then art a brave and clever wench" said Voltan "Know that an you have conceived from this outrage – an you do not care to use herbs to rid you of the same – that I will adopt your offspring and raise him or her as mine."

She stared at him in wonder.

"You would do this for me? You are – My Lord, I never knew a man as PRACTICAL as you!"

"Pauline, there's not a lot I wouldn't do for you" said Voltan. "You have been a good friend to Annis and me. And anything I can do to help you come to terms with this I will do; I swear."

"I – I do not know what I want to do" said Pauline in an unwontedly small voice. "I have never been uncertain in my life before; but since it has all sunk in I cannot – cannot decide what I should do. I – I should be able to find serenity in prayer; but I fear my faith cannot be strong enough."

"It is not thy faith, Pauline" said Voltan "Such things strike to the core of a woman; as emasculation strikes to the core of a man. Even a woman that is not a virgin is deeply damaged by such a violation; how much worse for one who has never known anything of what may occur normally between men and women that have this travesty happen! You must needs heal from the physical pain ere you can pray to heal from the soul deep hurt. Believe me, I do understand soul hurt from the cursed face; that was less the pain than the venom and rejection in the curse from one I had loved. It be not the same; but there are similarities. It is a betrayal, for a nun should be safe from such."

"Ah, you are so good!" said Sister Pauline.

"No I'm not" said Voltan "I'm just a pronoun, remember? When I first arrived you said 'oh so HE's here' that put me firmly in my place and left me feeling the size of a mouse; for Sister Pauline is far more formidable than any wicked warlord!"

Sister Pauline managed a half chuckle at that that was too half a sob.

Voltan was right; she should not succumb to the vapours; she was stronger than that!


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Voltan went to see the reeve and discovered that Wilfrith had clamoured to be allowed to be a page in a few years time and begged his father's permission.

"My Lord, I do not know what to say to him, whether you have hinted that this be acceptable to you or whether it be some whim he have come up with" he said "And an you be willing it be such a great honour!"

Voltan shrugged.

"Say to him yes" he said "I suggested it; for he stood bravely by his mother and faced me out when I went into your house. An martial endeavour be not his bent, he will suffer no harm to learn such skills for a year or two and return to you with more feats of arms than most, that he might stand as village champion against most common brigands. An he take to it, he will be one of my captains one day and perchance castellan of a fort I shall be constructing near here. That he too have local ties that give him more stake in it; a man defend lands better an they have meaning for him. And your duty is to get well for your people; for you have a good community that you lead well it seems to me."

Drinking a goblet of wine in the Mother Superior's daily chamber Voltan expressed his intentions.

"I am minded to build a proper fortress between the village and the nunnery" the warlord said. "That will cover protection, an memory serves me aright, of another three villages in addition to Oakridge. Hawk shall hold the castle at first, methinks, though I'll find him a successor as soon as I might. It were cruelty to tie mine active and peripatetic brother to stone walls."

"An you will extend such daily protection to us we were most pleased, lord Voltan" said the Mother Superior "And I would petition that our small funds of gold be added to, to aid in the costs of building, for such is but fair."

"Thank you; I'll not deny it would be useful" said Voltan. "That way I might hire masons and not have to tie up men building that should be patrolling."

"We need the protection; I am glad to pay for true protection from a strong lord" said the Mother Superior. "Such brigands as that bring home that you were by far a more deadly and yet less horrifying foe. What he have done to Pauline! It has made her unwontedly quiet; and I pray for her sake that she may be able to talk about it to someone soon, for she will not tell me what happened!"

"She has told me, Mother Superior" said Voltan "And felt, methinks, better that she had been able to talk."

Mother Superior stared, a little shocked.

"She did?"

Voltan gave a mocking grin.

"For one, Mother Superior, she knows that I know what happens; that she need not be as detailed in having to explain nor will I be frightened nor even as shocked as one of her Sisters; and she doesn't have to live with my face across the refectory table pitying her for knowing what happened, wondering how much another sister is repelled that she have had her virginity wrested from her, how much prurient interest lurks behind the words of sympathy, how much pity she must live with having thrust upon her" he said "Pauline wants not pity but help to find strength but from other virgin women methinks there would be much pity that is tinged with the guilty relief that it was not them. Thus she can talk to me that is a man of the world and a friend; for we formed a good rapport when she was caring for Annis."

"Aye; I suggested sending her as a healer to your castle; but she refused" said Mother Superior "She said it was inappropriate. Do you know what she meant?"

"Ah" said Voltan "Well, an I guessed, I should not betray such a guess. Sister Pauline is a strong and complex woman. She will need the support of her sisters. And she has whatever she may need from Annis and me for the asking. And I have promised her that an she be pregnant of this, I will raise her child as mine own."

Mother Superior blinked.

The raping of a nun was such an unthinkable act that the possibility had not yet occurred to her.

"Yes of course; such is possible, naturally" she said, coming to terms with the idea. "That is good of you, Lord Voltan."

"I'll go a long way for Pauline" said Voltan.

Voltan went back to Pauline ere he left to bid her farewell for a while.

"I can't help contrasting your treatment of Mother Superior with what – what that monster did" said Pauline "And wondering what might have happened an it had been me you had held, not her."

Voltan grinned at her.

"You, you managing piece, would have bullied me into letting you heal my face" he said. "Mother Superior being far too civilised and polite to push the matter when I first turned her offer down."

"As Annis bullied you?"

"Aye – in her gentle way" said Voltan. "What arguments and battles royal we had! She's a virago; it be plain to see you were both trained by the same hand!"

Pauline managed a shaky grin.

"Yes; once I had treated your arm and had conversation with you it were much easier to see why Annis should have willingly given herself to you as your wife" she said "It were a badinage that was stimulating. And…. Voltan, tell me that what lies between husband and wife bears no resemblance to what that man did?"

"It does not" said Voltan. "Even as animals rutting and driven by instinct as God has given them is in no way a comparison. The sin is not in the conjoining of man and woman; but the association of that with such things as pain, humiliation and mastery to bolster a weakling's ego. Between those who love it is a joining; and the first half of that word says it all, joy. Shouldst ask Annis."

"She can make me blush" murmured Pauline, blushing.

"Aye; she makes me blush at times too" said Voltan "As I thought I had long grown out of! She be an earthy little thing as have seen more, methinks, than a child should have done in her early years; but it have not touched her soul withal that she be not damaged by it. You should talk long with her; and you should take no decision in haste, and certainly not until you are healed in body. It is a time to lean on your sisters."

Pauline shot him a look. His gaze was full of tender concern, and she blinked as her eyes filled.

"You are easier to deal with when you are cross grained and sharp tongued" she said.

"Aye; so are you too" said Voltan. "Come, Pauline; is it fair of me to spar when you are so hurt? I will leave you to heal and you must make a decision for yourself. Annis and I are both ready to stand by you – whatever you decide."

She looked up into his eyes; and flushed. Did this amazing warlord know everything?

"Are you saying….."

"I say nothing yet but get well" said Voltan "You may feel that you cope best being as you have ever been; the comfort of the well known daily round as a prop to ease your battered spirit. And it may be, an that be so, that you never want to see me again as too sharp a reminder. That I will understand also. Now be well, Pauline; and in a few weeks I shall call to see how you do, and an that be a message not to come near you I will accept that, you know."

And he strode out.

Pauline had gasped in horror at the idea of never seeing him again; and she felt quite exhausted by his sheer presence; and his absence.

And she sobbed herself quietly to sleep.

Voltan had left Cerdic with specific instructions that he should train the peasants in basic techniques and show them how to work together as spearmen; that would give him at least the basis of a militia, albeit of dubious status, if there were any other incursions of banditry.

He did not leave any instructions for something else that Cerdic did; that was to beat up thoroughly the uncle that had abused him and beaten him and driven Cerdic as a skinny youth to join Voltan's army. Now a man and as tough as they came, Cerdic took time for a little pay back; and explained to the villagers exactly why he was using this particular man as a punching bag to demonstrate martial arts to them.

Enough remembered the skinny, downtrodden boy to be impressed by the tall, self confident warrior that he had become; and Cerdic had no trouble, for he was living proof that all it took was determination.

And when the warlord returned to inspect the state of affairs at the village, accompanied by his brother and those who had escorted the nuns he found the matter well in hand and no complaints from Cerdic's uncle ever reached his ears.

Annis went to the woman Gudrun to treat her; and to discuss her options. Gudrun was still determined to be a warrior in her husband's memory; and let loose her anger on other brigands. And, Annis thought, if she could stand the training it would do no harm to have such to focus on.

Annis also treated the only casualty from their side; a broken toe.

One of their men had kicked the knees out from under a brigand, unaware that the man wore knee guards under his breeches.

It had caused some hilarity among his fellows bit fortunately the casualty took it philosophically.

"Next time, kick UNDER the knee, not to the side" advised Annis.

And then they returned to the castle and Annis and Voltan discussed Sister Pauline and what might be done to help her. And Voltan was again amazed at the extent of Annis' generosity.

"It may never happen" said Voltan. "She is a woman of stern resolve and duty."

"Aye; but she have seen profound changes" said Annis "And it is better to be prepared. Having a baby is a remarkably extreme thing to happen, you know, an she be with child! I am deeply attached to Pauline; else I fear I had not been able to consider it."

Voltan nodded.

"I am fond of her too" he said "we shall give her all she needs between us."

The first cuckoo had been heard and bluebells carpeted the woods when Voltan rode next to the nunnery; half wondering if Pauline would have left message that she preferred not to see him, and had managed to put all behind her.

He was welcomed in by the nun who opened the door and led to a chamber normally used for guests.

Pauline came to him in there and met him, dressed in a simple homespun gown and her hair uncovered, her shorn locks starting to grow into ginger curls.

Voltan rose and kissed her hand punctilliously.

"I – I prayed; and thought" said Pauline "And I came to the decision that an my courses flowed as normal then it were indicated that I must put all behind me – errant thoughts and all – and concentrate on being a nun. But that an I were with child, then I should accept that as God's will and concentrate on being a mother. Not" she added hastily "That Annis were not likely to be a good mother to any child you adopted; but that not to do so would be an abrogation of responsibility. And that in that case I should go out into the world and learn of it; and use my skills in your service to help other women who have suffered a similar fate. I have therefore had my vows annulled because of this."

"Even an you return to the nunnery ultimately, all knowledge is valuable in the end" said Voltan "An you be strong enough to take it and use it. I brought a spare horse in case you should wish to avail yourself of our hospitality at the castle; where you are welcome. As a guest at first; anything else shall grow as it grows."

"I – I fear to be the cause of sin or hurt" said Pauline "Dear me, I am still most tentative, even in speech!"

"You are not yet yourself" said Voltan "That is why all things must be taken slowly! Annis and I have discussed matters; she is willing that we do all we may for your happiness."

"She is such a remarkable girl" murmured Pauline.

"She is" said Voltan "And she have a deep affection for you; as have I."

"I have seen your face as it was you know" said Pauline "When you were laid in our chapel and we thought Hawk had killed you. I do not recall that I flinched from it. I want you to know that."

"Oh, stern Pauline never flinches at anything save ineptly put on dressings!" teased Voltan. "As to that time…. I do not really know what happened then" he admitted "Nor how the magician brought me back from what must have been death! But I am no undead monster such as he was; else I had not been able to sire a child."

"He could not, methinks, have made you a living, breathing man without God's will" said Pauline "For God have purpose of you yet."

"So it seem" said Voltan "And I think it be to at least start to subdue the barbarians and teach them about Him. I – I dream of taking back our family home one day. And that looks a possibility an the barbarians learn to fear me enough." He looked at her sharply "I am a warlord, Pauline; it is my job to kill the enemy without incurring too many losses on my side; but too I must order men to where I know some or all of them may die. I protect my men as best I can; that as many of them live as possible and as many of the enemy die as possible. A well run campaign is nothing but bloody murder."

She nodded.

"I am not, I think, of martial bent as Annis is; though it would do no harm an I learned how to defend myself – and my child. But sometimes, bloody murder, as you describe it, may prevent more killing in the long run, perchance. How many people each might the Impaler's men have killed? From what I have heard he was as inefficient as I judged him; and with a well crafted plan, you and Hawk had no trouble at all wiping them all out."

Voltan grinned.

"It was almost shamefully easy. But sometimes that is down to good planning. The use of dammed water to kill barbarians killed more than I had ever guessed; and was, I confess, quite terrifying in how effective it was. I fancy I may hear the screams of the drowning men and horses in my dreams for a while yet."

"And the point of what you have said is that you did it in order that you not hear the screams of raped women, dying men and children and the despairing cries of those carried off to slavery, and the crackle of flames on your own lands" said Pauline.

"Aye; and as always I am filled with admiration at your practicality" he said.

"I do not like the idea of killing; but I accept that sometimes there is no other alternative" said Pauline "And now I may too give skills I had not before; the knowledge of what women have been through that have been thus harmed by barbarians. It is not the pain; in sooth, I think that divorcing my mind from my body and letting it lie corpse-like meant that the pain was minimised. I suspect those who have fought have been hurt more. But most it is the humiliation."

He took her hand.

"Shalt work through that; and build up self esteem again as a woman" he said.

She nodded, blushing fierily.

"Get your things together" he said "we may as well go straightway; that you make your new start as soon as possible."

"I – I am packed against the hope of your coming" said Pauline "I too am efficient; and possibly presumptuous and optimistic."

"Certainly efficient!" said Voltan.

Back at the castle Annis embraced Pauline and bore her off to a comfortable chamber that was almost a shock to Pauline, used to the austerity of the nunnery. Annis and Voltan were austere by the standards of most, but Annis had tried to make it welcoming with hangings on the wall and gay quilts on the bed. Cushions lay on the thick window embrasure to sit in comfort to look out and the window was glazed.

"You are all that is good to me" said Pauline.

"Nonsense!" said Annis "Less of this! Where is mine abrasive friend?"

Pauline gave a brief smile.

"Hiding inside trying to stop herself from screaming" she said.

"Well then we must coax her out for a bit of treatment" said Annis. "You DO want Voltan don't you?" she asked bluntly.

Pauline was scarlet.

"Yes" she said simply in a low voice "I was aware of his magnetism before; that I accepted and understood your choice of him, methinks, quicker than some for….. for I was aware of attraction to him. That of course I ignored as a nun must for such things are tests of our devotion; and I thanked God that he was another woman's man. But…but I want too the comfort of his strength. And ….and I fear it as yet….."

Annis nodded.

"He will do nothing until he is certain that you are ready" she said "He is a real man; that have not to prove himself by showing off! He will not make you his mistress until YOU are ready."

"Oh Annis! That word does bring it home!" Pauline was shocked with herself "It is a sin…. And to encourage adultery…."

"It were a sin an you and he deceived or sought to deceive me" said Annis. "But I share freely with you."

"It – it will not make trouble with his troops? That they despise him for having a – a second woman?"

Annis laughed.

"Our people are but simple men who do have a simplistic measure of manhood. That our lord manage to handle two fiery women and keep them from arguing by his personality – as it will be perceived – will do him no disservice. They will be proud of him as a stud as well as for his strength of character over controlling his domestic viragos. I am afraid" she added dryly "That they will also be proud of him that he be so much a man that he have persuaded a nun to give up her vows for him. I KNOW it is not that" she said as Pauline would expostulate "That you would have the strength to ignore such attraction were there not other factors. But it is how they will see it."

"Oh dear" said Pauline "You understand them very well, Annis my dear."

"Of course I do; they are my people" said Annis simply "And you will learn to, too, as you help to heal them. They will love you for your skills first before they learn to love you for yourself and they will be doubly proud of the Old Man as they call him for picking another healer and will fight any outsider that complains."

"He's not old!" said Pauline indignantly.

Annis laughed.

"He could be a youth of twenty summers and still have that epithet attached to him an they respected him enough" she said "'Tis a term of respect and affection, you know!"

"Well I have much to learn about the men; any men" said Pauline crisply "And the sooner I find my way about your still room the better."

"And I expect we know things each other does not, that we may share" said Annis happily "For I had but basic training and learned the rest as I went along; and have learned too much that is not in conventional wisdom that I have gleaned from peasant lore and gypsy lore and eastern lore; and have found out what do work and what do not. Alas, that nothing covers stomach wounds!"

"Well there is something I may help with" said Pauline "For I have had some success with a technique that necessitates pure gold thread – wire, really – to sew up within that may then be left in place with no ill effect to the patient, for ordinary thread rots as you know, to the detriment of the health of the patient. If the Good Lord wills it, some may then survive."

Annis brightened.

"Where do we get pure gold wire?"

"From the city as I believe" said Pauline "Perchance the abbot of the Crag would let us buy through him as he have more ties with the city."

"Or we can ask Hawk to go that we have not any middle man to make mistake" said Annis "Or you and I might go, with suitable escort."

Pauline nodded.

"I do know what to look for after all" she said "I have never been to the city; it might be a learning experience. But you must not travel in your condition!"

"Well we can argue about that at a later date" laughed Annis "Settle in first; and let Voltan heal your hurts in the most natural way there is."

Voltan left Pauline almost entirely alone for a few days to let her find her feet; save for converse at the High Table or to discuss impersonally with her and Annis the treatment of such of his men as required it.

His victory over the barbarians with almost none of his own side as casualties had brought an intermittent but growing stream of people to his banner; some mercenaries ready to settle to a single lord but choosy about getting a strong one; some mercenaries hoping for lucrative campaigns – these were disabused and shown the door – some discontented peasant lads who wanted more of life than tilling the field and thought that a soldier's life would be it; and some that had fallen into brigandage for various reasons who came to beg a second chance.

As many had been dispossessed by greedy landowners or had fled cruelties of such as Lord Marfey and had taken to brigandage only as a way to survive, Voltan accepted them if they could keep his rules. The one who he had bad feelings about he had watched; and when it turned out that he was a spy for a group of bandits, Voltan took the spy riding in a patrol and watched him get jumpy as they approached his band; on whom the patrol, the rest being apprised of Voltan's intent, fell and slew. The traitor was then hanged by way of a warning.

One group however that Voltan DID accept was a band of men that admitted to behaving worse and worse because it was expected of them; but having heard how Lord Voltan had escaped that destructive cycle and earned respect they sought his aid to do likewise. Voltan told them to attend Mass with Father Michael; and when they felt able to ask that good priest how they might atone for anything they regretted, they might do so.

"And he will find you something practical too, not repetitions of prayers" said Voltan dryly.

They had accepted the conditions; and they were, as were all the new recruits, taken aback to be given a full medical check up by My Lord's wife and her friend; and the apprentices too. Annis asked Kai to examine the men privily for signs of disease; some things she preferred not to do with new recruits who might get fresh; and it was too a potential source of embarrassment for all the men an their lady had seen every part of them.

And those who had any sickness when they joined up – as many had, if only from poor nutrition – that t was not long before they felt fitter than they knew it was possible to feel!

And as many troubles were caused by worms in the gut, the killing of these made a great difference to those who had always had worms and never knew the difference it would make to be free of them!


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Pauline had been preparing vermifuges as the most commonly required medicine for the new recruits that Annis had decreed would now be given as a matter of course when Voltan looked in to the still room in search of her.

"I think you are ready to learn some personal self defence" he said "Come up to my chamber when you are done here; I will show you how to break the common holds a man with ill intent might use on a woman. An you wish Annis with you or any other, that is understood."

Pauline came alone.

"I do not fear you or that you would harm me, My Lord" she said simply.

"I suggested only support for fear of the fear of remembered emotions" he said.

"You are a support, My Lord."

He nodded; and commenced.

And at first, Pauline realised what he had meant, the terror welling up; but she fought the emotion, and listened to his instructions; and learned; and then suddenly as he confined her wrists it was not terror that washed over her making her heart beat fast, but that old attraction, stronger than she believed possible. She gasped.

"V-Voltan…" she said.

And then he kissed her.

Pauline clung to him, pulling herself closer as his lips held hers; kissing him back, surrendering to her arousal. And she cried out in disappointment when he lifted his lips from hers and let her go; and stepped away from her. She was panting and she half reached out to him.

"Half the fun is the anticipation; building things up" said Voltan softly. "You know some of what you want, my passionate Pauline; but shalt wait and have patience and then, I guarantee you, you will never fear a man again; for shalt have subdued Voltan the warlord and know what it is to have the means to exert the power of a woman over a man."

She gave a throaty chuckle, blushing fierily.

"I – I look forward to it, My Lord; though I see why they call you cruel, to bring a woman to such pleasure and then deny her any more!"

He ran a finger down her face.

"Oh I wager you'll curse me more yet ere you are much further" he laughed "I shall teach you more tomorrow; and shalt do your lessons in fighting before we may play."

And each day Pauline found the anticipation filled her thoughts; pushing aside the panic and terror that had held her for what seemed so long. And each time he left her wanting more.

The day Voltan finally led Pauline to his bed he pulled her down on top of him.

"YOUR pace, Pauline" he said "Your choices; you shall be in charge."

Pauline knew then that she loved him as well as wanting him so achingly; and wondered how many men would be so considerate as to give her that choice, how many men would be strong enough, confident enough to give a woman the dominant role, guiding her gently down onto him, but with so light a touch that she knew he was always ready to let her go an she wanted to stop.

He would never love her as he loved Annis; that she knew too. But the affection she had from him and the intensity of the pleasure he gave her was more than many a woman might expect in an arranged marriage; as Pauline was realistic enough to realise. And to have so much as she did she gladly accepted and abandoned herself to the pleasures of sharing bodies with him. And the afternoon disappeared in loving together, and Pauline surrendered herself totally to the joy of it.

oOoOo

Hawk had not been around for some time, having been supervising the building of a fort near the nunnery, with Jehanne inevitably at his side; he had ridden in regularly to report but had not stayed long.

This time Hawk rode in as Voltan inspected his troops, the raw recruits starting finally to be licked into some semblance of shape, and those who already had some martial skills adapting well to Voltan's ways. And both Pauline and Annis were present; and Voltan briefly dropped an arm about the shoulders of each. And each leaned against him.

Hawk stared; and as soon as he might extracted Voltan and demanded private speech.

"Voltan, tell me you are not bedding Pauline!" he said, shocked.

"I can't tell you that, brother; because I am" said Voltan calmly.

"But – ANNIS!"

"Whose idea do you think it was?" said Voltan "I do nothing that Annis would disapprove of, I assure you! Try not to look so much like a stuffed fish, brother; it do not become you and remind me of that de Clairvallet fellow."

"ANNIS' idea? Why?"

"Because, you good, worthy, and not always totally thoughtful oaf" said Voltan affectionately, dropping an arm over his brother's shoulder "It were a woman's job to help another woman. Rape for a woman is as deeply disturbing as an we were cut about in our manhood. An you received wound there, think not that you would want to make sure it still worked? But it be more than the physical – as it would for you in such case. Pauline have been made an object by that fellow; she has to learn to be a woman. She felt unequal to remain a nun; and so must become of the world. And I try to give her self esteem, the knowledge that she is attractive, not an object, as only a tender relationship can. Perchance she will, once awakened to her womanhood find another man, that she wishes to marry. Perchance she will decide she has learned, and now wants no man. Perchance she will choose to remain my mistress. All these things Annis and I have discussed. I love Pauline well enough to do all I can for her; how can I not when she was so instrumental in giving me back Annis? How can I not try to give her back herself?"

Hawk stared.

"I – it is most irregular!" he said.

"So is a bastard so lost to shame that he rapes a nun" said Voltan.

"There is that" conceded Hawk. "I – I was shocked; I think of Pauline as a nun still."

"Perchance she will be again" Voltan shrugged. "It have been known for women to wed, have children and then take the veil on widowhood. But an she feel she cannot, then she needs to be cared for. As I will; in whatever way she be comfortable with."

"And Annis suggested it you say…. She is the most amazing woman!" marvelled Hawk.

"She is" agreed Voltan "And it makes me feel a little guilty that I cannot give Pauline anything like as much love as I feel for Annis; it is fortunate that she understands that and accepts it."

Hawk shook his head.

"They are both extraordinary women" he said "Forgive me, brother; I think I was sounding pi. I did not understand."

"You did" grinned Voltan "Remarkably; and I do, right gladly."

"Others will censure you."

Voltan laughed.

"And that be in what wise different to the way they have ever seen me?" he asked "I care not; there are but few whose good opinion I care for; yours and Annis'; and now Pauline."

Hawk clapped a friendly and supportive hand on his brother's shoulder.

Hawk did however ask Pauline,

"Are you quite happy with the er, arrangements for you? Both my brother and Annis can be a little overwhelming… Annis is one of the most managing people I have ever met."

Pauline grinned.

"The same HAS been said of me, you know" she said ruefully "At least one Prior with ailments has asked – begged – Mother Superior to arrange a different nurse because he found my manner brusque. I have very little time for malingerers or moaners nor those who prefer to enjoy their illnesses."

Hawk laughed.

"I imagine you would not! So long as you do not feel pushed or pressured nor in any way unhappy."

"I do suffer guilt pangs that I be living in sin with a married man" said Pauline, seriously "That I fear are quickly dissipated by Voltan's embraces. I cannot truly repent of a situation that I enjoy so well. Is that so wrong of me?"

Hawk shook his head; suddenly he knew it was not.

"So long as all parties are content I cannot see there is any real wrong. I can think of situations supposedly sin free in being Holy matrimony; where the hapless bride suffers effective rape every time her lord comes to her, that he be rough and unkind and his desires a fear and penance. And yet such is sanctioned by the church and she is told it is he duty to submit. Such a relationship, I make no doubt, was the one Annis' mother found herself in. And I account matrimonial rape a far greater sin than those who love in a slightly irregular fashion. I was but taken aback at first."

Pauline blushed.

"He is so very…..very!" she said "You – you do not think him likely to be caused trouble?"

Hawk snorted.

"I think most men be more like to mutter to themselves 'lucky bastard, how does he do it'" he said "And I only hope that not too many women think that an he have one mistress he might have more; or failing to understand try to supplant you in his affections. As he seem to have this effect on strong minded women" he added dryly, reflecting that even Jehanne had said that Voltan was a magnetic personality if a little scary at times for being so intense; and Hawk was glad that she at least preferred the less intense brother!

"How goes the fortress, Lord Hawk?" Pauline turned the subject.

"If I am your effective brother now, Pauline, it seems superfluous to add the 'lord'" said Hawk "But to answer you question, it goes well, thank you! We have something of a keep of stone, though the outer bailey is yet of wood; and our keep hardly larger than a good sized house, and that mostly down to the good services of Gort. And if it be not much of a keep, it is still better than naught; and an expression of Voltan's will and dominance over the region. It will grow. And we have too recruits from the surrounding villages, young men who would be men at arms to help defend their homes."

Pauline nodded; such desire to protect what they held dear made sense.

The woman Gudrun had come, as promised, to Voltan's castle to train, with her two infants in tow, a boy of not five summers and a girl two years younger. Pauline had taken on the task of giving basic lessons to all the castle children that they knew their letters at least; and to see which ones showed promise that should be educated further.

As not all knights even could read and write fluently it was an advantage they had not otherwise been like to have; for in a time and place where preparing for war and to defend house and home took priority over everything, such things as literacy might easily be forgotten, Voltan's snide letter to the king notwithstanding. And Voltan was perhaps too unusual in realising that knowledge was a better weapon to employ against any enemy than sheer brute force.

Gudrun was happy to turn to Pauline for advice, since the former nun was in a similar situation to herself; but unlike Pauline, she accepted a tea of tansy, fennel and yarrow from Annis to be sure and rid herself of any unwanted pregnancy.

Pauline reflected that at was going well at the castle as well as at Hawk's fort.

"Soon we shall be able to assign you either Kai or Chabee as your fort's healer" she told Hawk "Though Chabee must needs come with Jagiz and their children."

"I am happy with Jagiz as my man" said Hawk "When he have doubts he is not afraid to ask clarification. The children would miss their fellows and playmates though, methinks; Kai knows me well and I will be glad to have him, though of course we have too the nunnery very close by."

Pauline chuckled ruefully and blushed.

"Well an you take Kai we women shall have to learn to scrutinise the men privily that volunteer" she said.

Hawk blushed deeply.

"WHAT?" he said, scandalised.

"Some – especially those that have had lawless lifestyle – come with diseases caught through incontinent fornication" said Pauline "That may then pass freely to others via any women they know carnally after arrival. Since there ARE those women now who are…..available, as My Lord says in inevitable. Some forms can be treated quite easily; others, fortunately rare save in mercenaries that have been far to the south, hard or impossible to treat. But as it passes on so easily, Voltan does not want it in his army."

Hawk nodded.

"I see" he said "Perchance you could train a captain just to look for signs and describe symptoms to you that you then prescribe for any er, problems. That you need deal only with those who have actual problems."

Pauline brightened and nodded.

"That would seem a good idea" she said "I'll talk to Annis about it. The rare one is said to be incurable but we are trying a gypsy remedy that involves a particular type of mould on bread. Yes, it do sound rather disgusting, do it not?" she added at Hawk's dubious expression "But if does stop poisoned wounds getting worse that honey have a better effect; and it seems to help if eaten too where the poison has been driven deep. We have had recruits who are mercenaries with long untreated wounds" she explained "And thyme of course prevents the spread of poison; between the two we hope to have something efficacious. Voltan have insisted that any who have such a disease must be celibate until it is proven cleared; and the women who service the men are told who those that might put them at risk are, and threatened, like one who sleeps on duty, with stoning an they ignore the interdiction. For disease is an enemy too; I cannot really fault such a decree" she added soberly.

Most of the castle healing was falling to Pauline at this time; for Annis had swelled immensely as her pregnancy progresses, and she found getting about difficult, though she continued to exercise diligently. Voltan was taking every effort to let his fragile little wife know how much he loved her; it may have been her idea that he take Pauline as his mistress but the warlord knew he must make sure that Annis thought of the older woman as a substitute while Annis was feeling unwieldy and less herself than normal. He loved her tenderly, or just held her if she was not feeling like loving; and he gave her time.

Annis was just happy to sit in her husband's chamber while he marked future plans on his precious maps; she sat writing out all the knowledge she had gained in herb lore.

"Annis" said Voltan suddenly and seriously "You have not had any evil presentiment have you that you labour so assiduously? That you make sure to leave all your knowledge and have given me a second woman that loves me to assuage the grief in some small measure?"

Annis met his dark, troubled eyes with her smoke blue ones so he would read that she did not dissemble.

"I have had no presentiment" she said "But women DO die in childbed my love; and I am not large to birth a baby" she pulled a rueful face "I make effort, however much it mislikes me, to exercise every day that I be quick like the Hebrew women, not lay about getting flabby; but I confess it is something that is a concern upon my mind. I was not going to mention it; but an it be something that have too crossed your mind….. well, we can share the anguish; you can pace and I'll worry" she made feeble joke.

Voltan smiled briefly at her attempts at humour.

"My mother died birthing a dead sister to me" he said "As I swear YOU'D have saved both; I've seen you present a live babe and a living mother after Father Michael has been sent for. Even so, it cannot but be in my mind, love; for you are so tiny. I – I sometimes wonder an I had been wrong and wicked to put you through this just because I long for a son; for I care not an we adopted children, so long as you love me."

She touched his face; and he took her hand and kissed her slender fingers.

"I wanted to give you children; as I still want to" she said "I will not, perchance, find it as easy as some; and I will use herbs to make sure I am not permanently pregnant that I think kills as many women as anything else, even an they not come to term with a live baby each time. I have too a better chance of living, that Pauline be like to save the life of mother and baby both even an she must cut me to get baby out. Her I trust in all things."

"Yes" said Voltan softly "Pauline is almost as remarkable as you, my dear; for many a mistress could be tempted, through the known exigencies of childbed, to be sure her rival did NOT live. Methinks such an unworthy thought would never even cross Pauline's mind."

"It would not" said Annis with steady certainty.

"It had not" said Pauline coming in with her swift, light tread "Has any suggested otherwise?"

"Only my cynical knowledge of womankind" said Voltan dryly "Which is why the bit that you missed hearing is that I said that you are a remarkable woman."

Pauline flushed, pleased.

"I love Annis too dearly to let anything happen to he an it be in my power to prevent it" she said "And might I say, such be a most maudlin line of discussion."

"I wasn't planning on discussing it; but Voltan asked an I had had bad presentiment" said Annis "As I do not; but a good warrior prepares for all contingencies."

"And a good healer doesn't give up 'til the last rites are read" said Pauline "And not even then, for some call a priest before it be necessary."

"She's in good hands with you" said Voltan.

"Besides" said Pauline, bracingly, being almost back to her old self "Annis has to live; I'd not let anyone else deliver MY baby!"

Annis laughed; and the cloud of fear on Voltan's heart lifted. With Pauline to aid her, Annis, slight though she was, had a better chance of surviving than a cow-hipped peasant woman.

"My dears" he said "You are both wonderful."

"He says the nicest things" said Annis.

"It is flattery, no doubt, with ulterior motives."

Annis giggled.

"Shall we satisfy his ulterior motives?" she suggested.

"What – both together?" Pauline was faintly scandalised.

"Why not?" said Annis "Next winter we'll all be glad to sleep together for warmth, I wager; we should practice getting used to the idea and exercising our dominance and feminine guile over our lord."

"Are we supposed to tell him that?" asked Pauline.

"Oh he's clever enough to notice" giggled Annis.

"Dear Lord, bullied by two women at once?" cried Voltan "Come here, you viragos and let me see who will master whom!"

It may be said that no more work got done that afternoon.

And Lukat, coming to find out an there be some task that he might do for his adored lord reported that he thought it silly to take off the clothes to practice wrestling especially as it looked as though Lord Voltan was losing with Lady Annis and Lady Pauline sitting on him and giggling.

Florian absently cuffed the younger boy and told him he was a silly child; but the story had been heard and it were too late to quash it.

Those men not on duty retired to drink to Voltan's health and stamina and to toast his vigour, as were needed an he take two such women!

Enough had suffered already from Pauline's tart tongue that she be as well respected as Annis; and the men gave their lord serious respect for his prowess!


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

The village was rebuilt with good broad streets that met at a crossroads by the church; and the crops were busy ripening in the fields. And a good crop it looked to be too, dense and every head of corn heavy with seed. Voltan had built a storage barn too, where surplus might be stored, that could be taken quickly into the castle in times of siege or given out in times of failed harvest; for good years should not be wasted.

"We could sell the surplus and buy more for our people, that their lives be more comfortable" suggested Hawk when he visited.

"We could; but what is the use of gold or excess buildings built with it an we be in need of food?" said Voltan "I know you itch to rebuild our rude church; but it is no less the House of God because it be wattle and daub with a thatch roof; and methinks perhaps even closer to His own dwelling than the magnificent monuments of marble and carven limestone that remind me more of the glory of whichever archbishop dedicated them. The church is not a building, brother; it is the congregation. And I had rather take care of the bellies of my people than worry about a fancy stone church. One day this village will be a city, walled and defended; then perchance it will be time to build big stone churches to impress barbarians forced to trade, not raid. Our church, like our priest and our people is simple, uncomplicated; and uncorrupted."

Hawk bowed his head.

"Sometimes your profound insights astound me so much, Voltan" he said "I often think that you are the doer of the two of us, and I the dreamer; but you think so deeply."

"I think it's what I'm paid to do" said Voltan dryly "As part of the oath of fealty my people give me. We are not safe yet; nor should we think ourselves so. We have more people here now than when I took this castle, not merely the soldiery but there are those who have flocked to what they see as a safe haven in the village; refugees looking for a place to stay, skilled men driven past endurance by the demands of other less douce lords; displaced people looking to settle where they might be protected. And their numbers mean that we can till more land; and there are now an increasing number of artisans. And their skills will bring visitors from other villages that need such abilities; and in no time this will be a small town not a village. 'tis why I made the square at the crossroads large; as a market square. At some point the grain growing will have to move to a new village as we enclose the town and make it a place with more artisans than peasant farmers; and then it will but grow at its own pace. In the meantime we may have to fight; and not just brigands and barbarians" he smiled grimly "But with my neighbours too."

"Why is that?" asked Hawk.

"More than one reason" said Voltan "One being jealousy that I grow large in my demesne and powerful; for taking those lands others cannot hold; but this they forget when they see prosperity as soon they will. Another reason is that I have let word spread that I have no serfdom on my land; that I count any man who comes to me as free" he went on "Serfs are fleeing the lands of others in droves to work for me as free men. It gets a lot of work done; and methinks a free man give better value for his pay than a serf for his minimal keep in any case, that I be the gainer in the long run though I pay more gold. And THAT is funded by the spoil from the jewellery so many of the barbarians wore" he added "That I sent men out to gather up to the ends that we have a store of gold to pay more men."

Hawk laughed.

"You're a big fraud, my brother; you dress it up in terms of how it makes economic sense because you will not admit to hating slavery in any form!"

Voltan grinned.

"Why should I admit it? Save to you, perchance, quickly and in hope that none overhear such sentimental rubbish! I'm the wicked warlord, remember, as Annis dubbed me; a title I have preferred to the melodramatic, but nebulous 'the dark one'. And my reputation for ruthlessness keeps as many people hesitant of attacking me as my well tried army."

Hawk nodded.

"I'm afraid that's true enough" he said "Hast serfs from Peter Haldane's lands?"

Voltan gave a lupine grin.

"Dozens" he said "And they were the first to start coming; all clamouring to serve the Lady Annis and her Lord who rescued her from the wicked Baron Marfey by eloping with her. Not quite truth, but it suffices. Damn, had I known about her ere she fell haply into mine hands by running away I wager I SHOULD have eloped with her!"

Hawk laughed.

He did not bother to contradict his brother; whose own views at the time had not been so sanguine about being attractive to any woman for his scarred face; and would have scorned to elope with and marry an unwilling bride.

"Think you it will be war with Haldane?" he asked instead; a pressing enough matter.

Voltan shrugged.

"I think he may swallow it – at least up to a point – because he fears me enough. The Captain of all his guards is, however, another matter. He is the man's bastard, Annis' half brother, and by her description as crass and brutal as their father with a hunger and ambition in addition. I have no doubt that when Haldane dies, that may indeed be at any time for his hot apoplectic temper, this fellow will assume the right to inherit the castle. And on behalf of Annis then I go to do war on him. As I have little choice over; for she is Haldane's only legitimate offspring"

Hawk pulled a face.

"Is it worth the trouble?"

"It is the principle as much as anything else; and an I do NOT press that point this Kort Haldane will see it as weakness and will try to steal from my lands and hope I sit back and ignore his depredations" said Voltan "And so yes, it is worth it. And I'd then too have a castellan of mine own choosing holding it on Annis' behalf that would be a better neighbour; and another demesne on which to impose law and order on the side NEAREST the capital; instead of the caprice and whim that rules under Peter Haldane's lordship."

Hawk nodded.

"Aye; you make much sense" he said "And better to take the initiative than wait for him either to declare war on you or goad you to make war at a time of his choosing, as he might do an he be a canny warrior."

"I have agents in the demesne to bring word the moment Haldane dies" said Voltan "Including the adult son of a serf returned, brave and dedicated man, to serfdom knowing his parents and siblings be free. And when I so hear, I will ride straightway with Annis and make her claim immediately her father is dead; before this captain gets himself in any wise entrenched" he grinned "And before he have the castle on a war footing. For he'll not dare prepare while the intemperate fool of a father of his is alive; and I want to avoid giving him time to prepare once the old fool is dead."

Hawk nodded. His brother's strategic reasoning was faultless.

"And too the church must needs support a legitimate heir unless there be any reason to deny such" he said "It were well thought out, brother – as usual. I hate to admit it, but I fancy you be both a military and political genius."

Voltan snorted.

"Military – possibly. Political? Not at all! I understand something of manipulating people – and I've learned a sight more of that from my clever wife – but acquit me of the black sins of such city dwellers as play politics!"

Hawk laughed.

"My apologies" he chuckled "Aye, art too straightforward to play such foolish politics as they play for the sake of it. I am glad of that."

"Florian will give such short shrift when he becomes king" said Voltan with satisfaction "though learning to manipulate them too might not be a bad idea; that I hope he have time to study with Cardinal Cordo ere the king dies"

"Yes; that may teach him much. I see that you want not the trouble of ruling thyself, brother, so you create the boy in your own image to be the sort of king you think we should have!" laughed Hawk "And all without having to conquer or subdue the kingdom"

"Think you not that he is what we need?" said Voltan. "Though I'll not deny that you are right that the thought of ruling for myself fill me with horror for the amount I should doubtless be trammelled by custom and etiquette at every turn!"

"The boy will do a good job" said Hawk "And will not forget to whom he owes the good training."

It was high summer when Annis went into labour several weeks early.

She awoke to the pains rippling through her belly and knew this was no longer the practice contractions Pauline had explained to her.

Annis concentrated on breathing slowly and not panicking; and counted between contractions. There was, after all, no point in rousing anyone until she had reached a point that there was less than three hundred heartbeats between them. That too Pauline had explained.

Voltan awoke anyhow; as he had the uncanny knack of doing if Annis was in any way perturbed. He sat up and saw the contractions run across her belly under the light linen sheet that was all they needed in the summer's heat.

"You are early!" he was filled with consternation.

"Aye; Pauline warned me that I might be so" said Annis in a voice that sounded calmer than she felt "since I be small; that a baby be like to come when he is big enough for my belly and no bigger."

"Should I wake her?" asked Voltan anxiously.

"Not hardly worth it yet" said Annis. "I'm still at four hundred heartbeats or so between contractions….aaah!" she winced and panted as the contraction came, then smiled wanly up at him. "An you will ask servants to heat water for a warm bath, I should like that" she said.

Voltan nodded and pulled on a robe.

Pauline stirred; she had moved into a second bed in their chamber, to be ready for Annis when her time came, and because it was good to be close, whilst being too hot really to all sleep together.

Voltan went quietly from the room. Annis was right; Pauline should rest while she could, for first labours could be long and protracted and there was no sense in tiring out the midwife!

Soon servants were bringing warm water; and at their clatter Pauline awoke fully.

"Annis! Is it time? Why did you let me sleep, foolish girl?"

"You might as well sleep all the time you may" said Annis "I'm only just down to every three hundred heartbeats so I'd be thinking of rousing you right now. I've been walking about a bit too; and a bath will be pleasant."

"Get on the bed first" said Pauline in a tone that brooked no demur. She produced a bronze speculum that she warmed in the bath water.

Annis pulled a face but submitted to the examination.

"You're not fully dilated yet" said Pauline briskly "I should break my fast; an it not upset you I'll have something sent up here."

"I don't mind in the least" said Annis "I could murder a bowl of pottage myself."

"Annis! You're not supposed to feel like eating when you're in labour!" said Pauline.

"Well I don't care; I'm hungry and between contractions my belly growls and I'd not mind stopping one of them" said Annis.

Pauline sighed; and issued orders to the servants. If Annis fancied something to eat it would do the tiny girl no harm to keep her strength up. And an she managed but a mouthful or two it were still better than nothing. The worst that could happen would be that she would bring it up again.

Annis polished off a bowl of pottage in rather hasty gulps between contractions.

"They're getting more frequent" she said, sounding thoroughly scared.

Her comment coincided with Voltan's arrival, for he had felt it best to eat with their people.

"What do I do, Pauline?" he asked.

"Men at a confinement? Not to be thought of!" cried Pauline.

"Satan's bollocks!" said Voltan "We started this together, Annis and I, and I'll not quit on her as she fights this tough battle!"

"I WANT him here" said Annis.

"Mother Superior would have forty fits" said Pauline.

Voltan kissed her absently.

"Mother Superior would have forty fits an she knew what a passionate little thing you be too, Pauline" he said "Nice woman. Not very much connected to reality. Anyway, she isn't here to complain."

"Art masterful and managing" said Pauline. It did not sound that much like a censure.

"It's the – ow – way we like him" managed Annis.

It was about the last coherent thing she managed for a long while.

The labour was long; but Pauline was well satisfied with the rate of Annis' cervical dilation and pointed out cheerfully that first babies always take the longest.

Annis pulled a grimace and Voltan muttered that an he had prayed for Pauline to regain her abrasive sense, he hadn't necessarily meant it and he took it back.

Pauline touched his arm.

"She's doing very well" she said "Soon she might push; and then it will not be so long. The head is there; I saw a lock of hair, that we know the baby at least is not breech."

"What do you do an it be breech?" asked Voltan, wanting to take his mind of Annis' agony.

"Get the hands up inside her and turn it like peasants do of an ewe or a cow that have offspring trying to birth the wrong way round" said Pauline.

Voltan winced and wished he had not asked.

At last Pauline was encouraging Annis to push hard; and into the world, squalling in protest came slithering the baby, a tuft of chestnut hair on his head and red in the face from his own sufferings; it was a little boy!

"Here, make yourself useful and hold him" said Pauline, thrusting the baby at Voltan as she cut off and tied the placenta, encouraging Annis to push again to expel the afterbirth.

"We have a son!" said Voltan, wonderingly "I am a father!"

"It does tend to follow certain acts" said Pauline tartly; relieved into the realms of sarcasm.

"No Pauline, it does not; any male can sire a child but it needs a man to commit to being a father" said Voltan.

She looked up at him.

"Aye; and a man indeed to be father to another man's child. And if any man is a man, you are."

"I want to see my baby" said Annis.

Pauline took him from Voltan and laid him to Annis' breast.

He fastened on to a nipple straight away.

"Hasty and impatient as all the family!" laughed Voltan.

"Aye; and a labour of only nine hours; fast enough that way too" said Pauline.

"Nine hours? I thought it was an eternity!" cried Voltan.

"Not half as much as I did" murmured Annis.

Pauline washed her efficiently and ruthlessly, whipped out the sheets she had laid down for the blood and fluids of birth and replaced them with clean sheets deftly and around Annis' sleepily protesting form.

"And now shalt rest, and sleep with thy son" she said gently.

"We have not named him" said Annis.

"I wanted to name him in some respects after Hawk an you had no objection" said Voltan "I thought to name him Peregrine."

"Peregrine; yes, I like that" said Annis; and promptly fell asleep.

Voltan took the baby from her as soon as he was sated; and went down to the courtyard with his protesting bundle.

"I HAVE A SON!" he called "His name is Peregrine; and he is mine heir!"

Loud were the cheers of the men; and Voltan called for a feast, to include the villagers too; and sent horsemen to take the news to the nearest watchtowers that might be relayed by riders from each to the edges of his demesne.

His lands had an heir; and Annis was alive and well and no concern on Pauline's face to suggest she lay in any risk; for he had looked to ascertain that.

It was a good omen for all that was to come; and Voltan rejoiced.

Then he took his squirming offspring back to Pauline's care and Annis' breast.

A wise father did not antagonise his son too much even at this age!


End file.
